The opening ceremony of the 4th U4 Sports Architecture Joint Graduation Design was grandly held at Hunan University on March 7, 2026.Initiated jointly by Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) and South China University of Technology in 2023, the 4th session (2026) of the U4 Sports Architecture Joint Graduation Design is co-hosted by Harbin Institute of Technology and the Sports Architecture Branch of the Architectural Society of China (ASC) under the Chinese Society of Sports Science, and co-organized by Hunan University and Harbin Institute of Technology Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. Proposed by Professor Mei Hongyuan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), this joint graduation design takes Sustainable Design of Sports Facilities in Complex Urban Environments--Conceptual Planning of Changsha Olympic Center and Architectural Design of Natatorium as its theme, bringing together China’s leading sports architecture scholars and faculty from the four universities to explore new paths for innovation and talent development of sports architecture.
The opening ceremony was hosted by Professor Luo Peng from the School of Architecture and Design at Harbin Institute of Technology.In the opening remarks, Professor Xu Feng, Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, Hunan University, delivered a welcome speech first. On behalf of the college, he extended a warm welcome to the academicians, experts, students and teachers from sister institutions, and pointed out that this joint graduation design is of great significance for promoting inter-school teaching collaboration and enhancing the practical ability of sports architecture design. In his speech, Zhuang Weimin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highly affirmed the brand value and exemplary role of the joint graduation design of U4 sports architecture, and expressed his earnest expectations in the directions of the era mission of sports architecture, urban integration, green low-carbon development and functional integration. Academician Mei Hongyuan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering sorted out the development context of the U4 sports architecture joint graduation design and the background of this topic, encouraging young students to root themselves in practice, be courageous in innovation, and serve national fitness and high-quality urban development with professional design. In his speech, Professor Qian Feng, the president of the Sports Architecture Branch of the Architectural Society of China and the National Master of Engineering Survey and Design, emphasized that sports architecture is an important carrier with both professional functions and public attributes, and hoped that the four schools would take this graduation project as an opportunity to deepen teaching cooperation and academic exchanges, and continuously cultivate compound architectural talents with both theoretical literacy and practical ability, helping China's sports architecture industry reach a higher level.
