Fourth year Dundee University students Mishell Parodi, Calum Ramsay and Elliot Reilly came in second place at China’s UIA-HYP CUP 2020 International Urban Design Competition, a showcase for some of the world’s leading emerging architectural talent.

The students created a transformational vision - “Repair and Revanchism “- for Shanghai’s old town, designed to cope with the Chinese metropolis’ dramatically increasing population, while maintaining its traditional physical and social fabric.

Mishell, Calum and Elliot were part of an international collaborative studio arranged between Dundee and Shanghai’s Tongji University, an experience they said stood them in good stead as they competed against 350 submissions from around the world.

“The collaboration provided us access to the culture of Shanghai in a way which would otherwise have been unavailable to us,” said Mishell.

“That experience played an integral role in helping us conceive a project which dealt with important international issues. Participating in an international competition was a new experience to all of us but one which we would definitely recommend.”

The competition was organised by Tianjin University and Urban Environment Design Magazine (UED), with the assessment process chaired by internationally renowned architect Wolf D. Prix, design principal and CEO of Viennese practice Coop Himmelblau.

The jury panel, comprising six international judges and nine domestic judges, was selected from international architects and deans from several schools of architecture.

The collaboration was supported by the University of Dundee through the International Mobility Group (IMG), which assisted students with funding for travel. Their success means that, in addition to receiving a certificate and a cash prize, they will be invited to attend a ceremony at Tianjin University and offered the opportunity to work with Wolf D. Prix.

Andy Stoane, architecture lecturer at Dundee, said: “This success is a fantastic endorsement of collaboration, co-operation and imagination - the international collaboration between Dundee and Tongji, the co-operative spirit in which the three students worked together, and the imagination required to produce radical design solutions which can tackle urgent social issues.

“We owe great thanks to Dundee’s International Mobility Group for their support and to Tongji University who hosted us while in Shanghai.”