Under the academic principle of "reconstructing a contemporary style of Chinese architecture" and with an emphasis on critical reflection on Western concepts of modern cities and architecture, Architectural Design and Theory takes theoretical thinking of regional architectural culture as the basic academic standpoint. With original research and pioneering experiments on China's vernacular architecture as the core features and the research of vernacular materials and modern construction as the breakthrough point, the discipline integrates with the sociology of contemporary cities and architecture, as well as the modern language transformation and philosophical thinking about traditional gardens and landscape painting. It promotes the educational exploration of contemporary Chinese experimental architecture based on theories, research and experimental construction practice. While continuing China's vernacular architectural research, it lays emphasis on having an open, international vision to deepen and expand long-term teaching cooperation and exchanges with first-class foreign architectural schools, taking the lead in developing itself into a focus in China's research circle and an international academic highlight of China's architectural education and creation.

Founded to meet China's demand for contemporary new-type urbanization construction, this discipline's teaching and research are developed in a unique way under the guidance of the academy's long orientation to local China's architectural research. Paying equal attention to the theory and practice of urban design, as well as rural research and urban research, it has gradually developed an academic uniqueness that features integrated urban and rural research with distinctive traditional values. It attaches importance to the study of current urban and rural social phenomena while introducing them to practical teaching, which has become one of its advantages.

Landscape and Landscape Architecture is designed to develop itself into a theoretical "on-site landscape architecture science" with the characteristics of art colleges. Focusing on the development of both traditional and contemporary landscape research and laying equal emphasis on literary mindset and craftsmanship, it pays equal attention to public space landscaping with literati features and original landscape research guided by the concept of contemporary art. Based on the scenic resources of the world cultural heritage site West Lake, the geographical heritage, "Jiangnan", and the geographical advantages of Jiangnan gardens, it aims to create aesthetic landscapes with the academic ideal of inheriting and activating Chinese traditional garden culture, forming an "on-site" teaching system with the characteristics of the academy.

Featuring digital design and construction and sustainable materials and construction research, Architectural Technology Science aims to strengthen the cooperation between the academy's UNESCO Chair in Earthen Architecture, Culture and Sustainable Development and the top international research institutions, on the basis of a series of natural construction teachings and the construction system research covering natural materials such as earth, wood and stone. While carrying out the research and practice with rammed earth as the main material, it conducts experiments on the selection and construction of wood, steel or reinforced concrete frame structure systems, to solve the problem of connecting rammed earth with other materials. In the digital construction research based on industrial robots, it aims to explore the possibilities of integrating local architecture teaching systems and digital experimental construction, broadening research directions for the in-depth development of the architecture as a discipline.

Oriented by contemporary Chinese local architecture studies, this discipline inherits the century-old academic tradition of Chinese architectural history and theory and studies the context of historic buildings from a historical perspective. Facing up to the huge demand for the renewal of buildings in the postmodern urban era, it studies the necessity and feasibility of historic building protection and renewal from an urban and societal perspective. Giving full play to the advantages of art schools in humanities and arts, it studies the strategy for organic building renewal integrating the built environment and the art of living from the perspective of environmental design. It aims to establish a research system of historic building protection and renewal strategy and theory with the characteristics of art colleges.