In a remarkable achievement, a team of graduate students from Tongji University's College of Architecture and Urban Planning—Jing Xiaochen, Wang Xuechun, and Xu Qingyun—claimed third place at the global finals of the 20th Saint-Gobain International Student Architectural Design Competition held in Lyon, France. This marks the first time a team from the Chinese division has secured an award in this prestigious design contest.

The competition, organized by French conglomerate Saint-Gobain, drew participation from over 1,300 students across 33 countries and regions. After rigorous regional selections, one winning team from each region advanced to the final in Lyon. The event kicked off at the Lyon Marriott Hotel, where Pascal Eveillard, Saint-Gobain's Sustainable Construction Director, underscored the pivotal role of young architects in driving urban sustainable transformation.

During the core presentation phase, each team had a mere five minutes to pitch their concepts to an international jury comprising architectural experts and sustainability leaders. The Tongji team's project, Energy Anchor, proposed a zero-emission tactical low-carbon idea, offering a green blueprint for French town transformation. Their design, which harmonized Saint-Gobain's sustainability ethos with the regional characteristics of Northern Isère, France, garnered high praise from the jury. The jury lauded their profound community engagement, innovative energy towers that served as both power sources and social catalysts, and their focus on modular, flexible construction for significant improvements in energy consumption and carbon footprint reduction.

The selection for the Chinese division of the competition was carried out relying on the Undergraduate Special Design III and Graduate Special Design IV courses of the Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University.