Professor MU Jun delivering the acceptance speech on behalf of the team via UN-WebTV

In early November, the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF12) was held in Cairo, Egypt. During the forum, the International Union of Architects (UIA) and UN-Habitat jointly hosted the UIA 2030 Award - Second Cycle Ceremony.

The project “Wanjian Village Children’s Library” led by Professor MU Jun and Professor JIANG Wei from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at BUCEA, was shortlisted in both the “Good Health and Well-Being” and “Access to Green and Public Spaces” categories and became the joint winner under the “Good Health and Well-Being” category.

The UIA, in partnership with UN-Habitat, launched the first cycle of the UIA 2030 Award in 2021. The biennial award, synchronised with the World Urban Forum, is intended to praise and promote built projects which demonstrate design quality and positive impact, and have made significant contributions towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in six categories: Good health and well-being; Adequate, safe and affordable housing; Access to safe, accessible, and sustainable public transport; Access to green and public spaces; Adaptation to climate change and resilience to disasters; Life on Land, Promotion, restoration and sustainable use of ecosystems.

This year, the UIA 2030 Award received over 100 entries from 33 countries. A total of 11 projects across 6 categories were awarded, including two projects from China. These are “The Main Pavilion of the 11th Jiangsu Horticultural EXPO, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province” led by Academician CUI Kai from China Architecture Design & Research Group, and “Wanjian Village Children’s Library” by the BUCEA team.

“Wanjian Village Children’s Library” before and after renovation

The design team transformed an abandoned adobe house in the village into a public children’s library to meet the extracurricular learning needs of over 200 left-behind children in the area. The space also serves as a venue for various community activities, including urban-rural parent-child exchanges, remote education for children, and agricultural training for local villagers.

The renovation and construction were organized and guided by a joint team composed of several graduate students and social workers stationed on-site, who worked closely with local craftsmen to implement the project.

After the project was completed, the library’s operations adopted a model combining mutual assistance among villagers and volunteer services from social workers. This near-zero-cost approach ensured the library’s smooth functioning, and it gradually became a space where local left-behind children could not only acquire knowledge and broaden their horizons but also engage with urban children, which fostered their growth and development.

Graduate students stationed on-site for Wanjian Village Children’s Library Project

In this year’s selection process, the “Good Health and Well-Being” category was highly competitive, with 13 projects making it to the finals. Ultimately, the “Wanjian Village Children’s Library” project, along with the “Angels’ Care Early Childhood Development Centre” project from South Africa became the joint winners. The judging panel gave high praise to the “Wanjian Village Children’s Library” project, stating: This project perfectly captures the spirit of this award programme, by demonstrating the positive impact a building can have on both its context and users. Through a holistic approach to materiality, re-use, local skills and thoughtful collaborative partnerships, the project starts taking on a larger importance within the community and provides the safe space needed by the left behind children while making a meaningful social impact. The architectural environments created both inside and out, are generous in spirit and delightful to experience.