Following engagement with the Chinese Community in Liverpool through the project "Cabinet of Memories” in September 2024, the Liverpool School of Architecture has supported Liverpool City Council with the design plan of installing of the two stone lions gifted from China to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Shanghai-Liverpool as twin cities.
Dr Paco Mejias Villatoro and Dr Junjie Xi led a group of graduate students and provided a vision for the installation that includes a better articulation of Great George Square, the incorporation of new landscape pieces and the improvements of the children's playground. This urban intervention will hopefully improve the area and bring visitors’ attention. Currently, the undergraduate second-year cohort (200 students led by 18 tutors, including part-timers who practice in the Liverpool area) is working in the area, including visions for the new Chinatown and the connection with the waterfront. A smaller group of Masters of Architecture students are also working on designs for the Chinatown area. This work will be exhibited to the community at the end of the academic semester (summer 2025) through a monumental model of around 30 square meters, and it is part of an initiative started two years ago by the LSA to engage students’ work with local communities. In 2023, students' work focused on Birkenhead, and last year, Toxteth.
You can read more about the plans at the BBC News website and the Architects Journal.