From March 5^th to 15^th, the graduation design team from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University, conducted an on-the-spot survey on the topic of disease analyses on the bricks and stones on Ancient Architecture at the Palace Museum, Beijing, China. Under the guidance of Professor DAI Shibing and Associate Professor ZHANG Peng, a team of twelve undergraduate and postgraduate students made a general check on the brick and stone materials and their diseases, and an did in-depth survey on Jingren Gong and Dong Ku at the Palace Museum, which would end up with detailed designs for protection and utilization. CAUP of Tongji University joined hands with the Institute for the Study of Ancient Architecture, the Palace Museum in this  teaching and research project with the help of the Institute of Palace Museum (Shanghai).

Under the support of the Architecture Conservation Laboratory of Tongji University, the students made detailed records of the characteristics and diseases of the brick and stone ancient architecture with both traditional tools and such advanced instrument as microscopes, microwaves, thermal infrared and ultrasonic devices. On March 12th, Mr. ZHAO Peng, Director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Architecture of the Palace Museum, gave a lecture on the survey and protection of Yangxin Dian, and introduced the implementation of the architectural heritage protection projects by the Palace Museum since 2002, which demonstrated the evolution of the concept of the repair at the Palace Museum in the process of protection. ZHAO also offered his advice to the team’s work priorities and research methods.