The Environmental Design programme at NACAA aligns with the global trend in design education shifting from "formal aesthetics" to "resilient systems," dedicated to cultivating innovative talents with systemic thinking and full-process management capabilities. The programme moves beyond pure spatial form and artistic expression toward a comprehensive decision-making process that integrates climate change, urban renewal, ecological restoration, and social needs. It emphasizes supporting design judgments with data analysis, simulation verification, and implementation. To avoid the issue of strong form-driven approaches with weak technical integration, the teaching approach will shift from singular design expression to interdisciplinary collaboration, establishing a researchable, verifiable, and replicable methodological system. This will comprehensively enhance students’ holistic and full-process understanding of real-world sites, cost control, material technology, and operational maintenance. The program’s teaching and research office leverages the resource advantages of Sino-French cooperative education, using Sino-French cross-cultural projects as practical scenarios. It integrates art, technology, ecology, engineering, and social research methods to form a unique advantage for the future, cultivating leading talents in spatial design who will drive sustainable development.
Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Structure
The first year focuses on "perception and expression" and builds basic sensitivity and cross-scale observation of the built environment through training in spatial cognition, morphological composition and digital modeling.
The second year focuses on "research and construction", using real-world issues such as site investigation and social space system construction as a guide to cultivate the ability to complete the design chain from problem discovery to systematic response.
The third year focuses on "projects and industry", relying on the French project-based curriculum to drive design thinking and industrial practice through real-world projects, realizing deep connection between China and France.
The fourth year focuses on "integration and intervention", using the graduation project as a carrier to open up professional boundaries and intervene in complex issues such as climate resilience and urban-rural symbiosis, completing the identity transformation from students to practitioners.
