HKUST students win 15th prize in American Masters of Architectural Design Competition

Students from the Department of Space Design of Kunshan University of Science and Technology participated in the "2026 American Architectural Masters Design Competition" and won a "Best of Best" highest honor award. (Provided by Kunshan University of Science and Technology)

The "2026 American Architectural MasterPrize (AMP)" announced the winners. The Department of Space Design of Kunshan University of Science and Technology won one "Best of Best" highest honor award, three "Winner" awards, and 11 "Honorable Mention" awards. The school emphasized that the spatial design creativity of Taiwan's new generation of young people continues to receive international recognition.

The school stated that the American Masters of Architecture Design Competition is dedicated to recognizing creativity and outstanding achievements in the fields of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, building products, and architectural photography. It is one of the important international architecture and design competitions. This year, there are thousands of works from 95 countries around the world competing.

Twelve 115-level graduates and three third-year students from the Department of Space Design participated in the competition. "The Gap in the Gray Forest—Constructing the Pattern of Man and Nature" directed by teacher Xia Weiliang and created by Wang Qiting won the "Best of Best" award. The work focuses on the problems of fragmented green space and loss of biological habitats caused by urban expansion. It shifts the design thinking from "human-centered" to "symbiosis" and proposes a spatial strategy of "people-oriented, ecology-oriented". It connects Buckley Park and the green belt texture of the site through an ecological bridge, combining planting and paving. and habitat configuration, making the base a node with the function of "ecological island hopping"; and using a sunken theater to reduce the interference of human activities, using stone gaps, soil, wooden structures and planting to create a permeable and habitable surface environment, redefining the way people and urban nature coexist.

The three "Winner" awards presented design responses from fishing village life, mountain forest culture and historical sites, including "Sea Breeze Dismantling - Memory of Fishing Village Parts" directed by Zeng Weiyang and Zhong Yaxuan and Jiang Nianyan "Assembly", "Mountains in Everyday Life - Jiujiu Peak and the New Culture of Settlement", and "Contemporary Diagnosis - Zhongheng Road Shengguang Forest Healing Field" jointly directed by teachers Lin Xiuhui and Wu Peihui by Lu Aiyu.