He has always had a dream of architecture.
Due to his passion for architectural design, during his university years, he participatedin an exchange program at the UCBERKELY School of Architecture and received a recommendation letter from Professor JAMES TATE of the School of Architecture. He also participated innine architectural competitions and projects both domestically and internationally,winning gold medals multiple times in design competitions. At the same time, he interned atan architectural design institute, learning and progressing.
Ultimately, he was admitted to the graduate program in architectural design at Southeast University.
Showcase of some of his hand-drawn works
He is also an engineering student who loves art.
He founded the first drawing club at Southeast University: the PENINK Pen Drawing Society. Serving as president for two years, he initiated the “Pen Moves Southeast” art education promotion project, organizing over 40 drawing competitions, exhibitions, courses, and salons. He is also amember of the International Hand-drawing Association of China and the chief editor of the hand-drawing column; his hand-drawn works have been shared and published by 30 well-known platforms and gifted to authoritative institutions both domestically and internationally.
He is
Southeast University Wu Jianxiong College
Electrical Engineering Intensive Class
Information Engineering major, Class of 2014
Li Peiwen
“This architectural dream has been challenged, shaken, and changed countless times. I am very lucky to have persisted until the end.”
During the interview with Li Peiwen, he spoke calmly and smiled. However, the listener could faintly sense the hardships and efforts behind his words. Thus, he began to recount his unique four years of university:
01
The Love-Hate Relationship with Architecture
His love for architecture led him to resolutely apply to the Southeast University School of Architecture after the college entrance examination, but he missed the opportunity. During his freshman year, he started learning drawing from scratch to build his architectural literacy, but fate played another trick: he failed the exam to transfer to the architecture department again, missing his dream.
“Maybe I should give up my dream.”
Faced with the “old debts” of basic courses in his major, not to mention the distant architectural dream, even his interest in drawing had nowhere to be applied. “Let’s just consider it a dream!” The disheartened him had to fall into the harsh reality: to study hard in his major.
Showcase of some of his architectural design works
At this time, a teacher from Wu Jianxiong College found him, affirmed his dream, and encouraged him:“Do not let the ordinary limit your uniqueness. If that is truly your dream, you must make the greatest effort and prepare for the worst.”
Encouraged, he got back up after falling and set off fearlessly once again.
“I started studying two majors simultaneously.”
From that moment on, in addition to completing the study tasks of the Information Engineering major, he began to audit design courses at the School of Architecture. The exhausting back-and-forth between the Four牌楼 and Jiulong Lake campuses made him feel fulfilled and satisfied.
Preparing for pin-up in the UCB studio / 4:00 AM /
Soldering circuit boards while making architectural models; learning programming while pondering design; along with club work and projects, he often couldn’t sleep until 3 AM. Those arduous scenes replay in his mind like a movie.
But it was precisely that difficult period that transformed him from an architectural novice to designing his own works, mastering architectural software, and clearly expressing his design concepts. He felt that all the effort was worth it.
Showcase of some of his architectural design works
“I do not just learn design in vain, talking about it on paper.”
Theory guides practice, and practice enhances theory.He has participated in two global architectural competitions, two national-level competitions, and five school-level projects. These include the Wu Jianxiong “Academy System” spatial design scheme; the Jin Zhi Building 5F spatial renovation scheme, and the Fuzhou Jinshan community planning design (competition) by Fusheng Real Estate, as well as the intelligent community planning design (competition) by Jingrui Real Estate, among others, winning over ten design awards.
Wu Jianxiong “Academy System” spatial design scheme
At the same time, he actively participated in the exchange program at UCBERKELY School of Architecture,achieving full marks in all courses and receiving a recommendation letter from Professor JAMES TATE of the UCB School of Architecture.
“Persevering, realizing the architectural dream at Southeast University”
After returning from UCB, he began preparing for the cross-major graduate entrance examination. Due to the vast difference between the two majors and the lack of architectural foundation, he could only start from thick architectural theory and technology books, digesting and absorbing them slowly. Ultimately, he achieved a score of 380 in the preliminary exam,ranking first in his major, and was admitted to the Southeast University School of Architecture for a master’s degree in architectural design.
“I can finally say: I have realized my architectural dream.”, Li Peiwen sighed and joked.
02
The Growth Story of a Hand-drawing Master
It is hard to imagine that under the pressure of two majors, he still led an extremely rich university life.
After starting to like hand-drawing in university, he found that Southeast University did not have such an artistic platform, only countless enthusiasts interested in drawing. So hefounded the first drawing club at Southeast University: the PENINK Pen Drawing Society and served as president for two years.
During this time, he organized over40 events related to drawing, including lectures by famous teachers, member work exhibitions, hand-drawing courses and sharing sessions, sketching trips, hand-drawing competitions, and charity sales; the club has also provided illustrations for CCTV10 China National Geography; he initiated the “Pen Moves Southeast” art education promotion project to enhance the artistic and cultural atmosphere on campus. He also designed and sold over a thousand sets of Southeast University hand-drawing themed cultural products, becoming a “campus hand-drawing master.”
Because of his love for hand-drawing, he also became amember of the International Hand-drawing Association of China and the chief editor of the hand-drawing column.
During this time, a series of his creative works themed on the cherry blossom season at Wuhan University reached 2 million views within a week and were shared by 25 well-known platforms.
Creative work for the cherry blossom season at Wuhan University, hand-drawn by: Li Peiwen
His hand-drawn works have also been gifted to Hong Kong Sun Hung Kai Properties, Washington State University, UCB School of Architecture, Jiangnan University, and others.
Meeting with Mr. Ding Zhaozhong as a student of Jianxiong
It is worth mentioning that he has also performed stage magic ten times; he enjoys playing and singing with the ukulele, photography, and magic, making various interesting friends during his university years.
“Their encouragement is crucial to me.”, Li Peiwen smiled.
Showcase of some of his photography works
To this day, he is still grateful for the words of the teachers at Wu Jianxiong College
“Make the greatest effort and prepare for the worst.”
Make the greatest effort, so that you have no regrets.
Prepare for the worst, so that we are not afraid of failure and can move forward bravely.
This is Li Peiwen, a unique
young dream chaser passionate about art.
This issue is provided by the Youth League Committee of Wu Jianxiong College
Images: Li Peiwen
Text/Editor: New Media Center of Wu Jianxiong College
Instructor: Ji Jing
