The international campus of Zhejiang University sits in Haining, next to Juanhu Lake. A wetland park runs along the northern edge of the site, and river channels pass on the east and west. It was designed by UAD, the architectural institute of the university itself. Instead of the usual functional zoning, the plan starts from the British residential college and adds a teaching and service complex and a shared research platform to the colleges.
The walls are fair-faced red brick, and the architects worked out more than a dozen ways of laying it just for the façade details. Light-coloured sandstone sits next to it. The buildings are neo-classical overall, but each group shifts a little: some stricter, some more relaxed, some close to minimalist. In sun the brick throws deep shadows, and in rain it turns warm and calm next to the sandstone. The campus looks like it has been there for a long time.
