2026-05-14

The Department of Architecture at the National University of Kaohsiung (NUK) recently held its 2026 Graduation Design Final Review, where 25 graduating students presented the results of year-long design projects. Through the perspective of architecture, students responded to a wide range of themes including natural environments, urban spaces, cultural landscapes, and social issues, using architectural design to imagine future ways of living and interacting with space.

The final review took place from May 7 to 10 at the Innovation Space on the second floor of NUK’s Library and Information Center. The event invited numerous renowned architects and scholars to serve as critics and reviewers, including Kung Shu-Chang, Fang Wei, Lyu Chia-Chen, Liao Wei-Li, Huang Chieh-Er, Chen Pin-Chen, Chang Ma-Lung, Yang Shih-Cheng, Chen Che-Sheng, Chiang Le-Ching, Chao Chien-Ming, and Hsueh Cheng-Lun. Students engaged in in-depth face-to-face discussions and critiques throughout the review sessions.

This year’s graduation exhibition adopts the theme “One and Two, Neither Attached nor Detached” (“是一是二，不即不離”), seeking to reconsider the ambiguous and complex relationship between architecture and the world.

Wu Min-Chen, chair of the student graduation exhibition committee, explained that architectural exploration is never about finding a single definitive answer. Instead, it involves continuous negotiation, reflection, and balance between rationality and emotion. Through the mindset of “being one and two at the same time, neither fully connected nor entirely separate,” students respond to the shifting conditions and contradictions encountered during the design process while searching for their own architectural language and spatial perspectives.

Department Chair Chen Yi-Chieh emphasized that architectural education is not solely about technical skills and spatial design capabilities. More importantly, it cultivates students’ abilities to observe and critically reflect on society, the environment, and contemporary issues.

He noted that the Class of 2026 has gradually developed distinct architectural viewpoints and spatial languages through long-term research, discussion, and design debate. Their work demonstrates both sensitivity toward contemporary issues and strong creative potential.

The exhibition’s visual identity is centered around the concept of a blueprint, symbolizing both projection into the future and the open-ended nature of architectural design. A kaleidoscope serves as the secondary visual concept, using mirrored geometric reflections to merge different spatial and temporal conditions into a single nonlinear visual system.

The overall visual language aims to express self-reflection, infinite cycles, constant transformation, and the absence of fixed answers, while also responding to the ongoing tensions within architecture between:

• Reality and illusion
• Drawings and built environments
• Imagination and construction

This year’s projects cover themes related to ecology, urbanism, cultural heritage, education, social inclusion, and housing. Design sites span mountains, coastlines, waterways, settlements, and dense urban environments. Through investigations across different spatial scales, students reexamined contemporary urban and regional issues while demonstrating strong observational and creative abilities.

Following the campus review, the NUK Department of Architecture 2026 Graduation Exhibition will also be showcased:

• May 29–31 at the plaza north of Kaohsiung Main Station
• June 12–14 at the South Tobacco Factory of Songshan Cultural and Creative Park

The exhibitions invite the public to engage with how a new generation of architects imagines the future of space and society.

#SDG4 #SDG11 #SDG12