Rural Urban Framework wins the 2015 Curry Stone Design Prize

Rural Urban Framework, known by the abbreviation RUF, is a design research group founded by professors Joshua Bolchover and John Lin of Hong Kong University. They aim to demonstrate how architecture can contribute to revitalising and rebuilding Chinese rural villages that have been rapidly losing residents due to mass migration to the cities. An increasingly pressing problem, for a study conducted by Tianjin University has found that China is losing about 300 villages every day.
When announcing the winner of the 2015 Curry Stone Design Prize, director Emiliano Gandolfi emphasised that RUF’s work exemplifies the role and dialogue architecture must have with society and the environment.
The design group worked on projects on different scales in 18 different villages. RUF built schools, social centres, hospitals and homes, and also worked on setting up infrastructure ranging from waste collection to planning of whole villages. All the projects are collaborative, with the participation of the local people. According to architect John Lin, co-founder of RUF, China is “the perfect laboratory" for exploration of the future of architecture and design, because while the world lives in an urban age, its fate is indissolubly linked with the destiny of the countryside.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Images courtesy of Curry Stone Design Prize, photo by Rural Urban Framework (RUF)

http://currystonedesignprize.com/
http://www.rufwork.org/

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