On September 4, 2025, during the 600th anniversary celebrations of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), an AI mortise-tenon wooden pavilion from Shanghai made a grand debut on the new Leuven campus. This experimental pavilion, jointly designed and built by Prof. Philip F. Yuan's team from Tongji University's College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) and Prof. Denis Zastavni's team from KU Leuven, stands as a key achievement of the China-Belgium government-led international R&D project.

KU Leuven, founded in 1425, is a European academic powerhouse. The Reinventing Mortise-Tenon project, led by Prof. Philip F. Yuan, aims to transform traditional Chinese mortise-tenon wisdom into future-oriented low-carbon construction techniques. Integrating 3D graphic statics algorithms with robotic construction capabilities, the 9.5-meter-high pavilion features a demountable, transportable, and re-erectable structure, showcasing a fusion of traditional Chinese craftsmanship and modern digital construction. In June 2025, the project was honored with the DigitalFUTURES Project Award by the DigitalFUTURES International Organizing Committee.

After being exhibited at Tongji University from June 2024 to May 2025, the pavilion was disassembled and shipped to Belgium. In an impressive 10-hour reassembly by teams from both universities, the pavilion's reversible design and rapid deployment capabilities were once again validated.

During the anniversary celebrations, Prof. Philip F. Yuan delivered a keynote speech on From Digital Futures to Architectural Intelligence, highlighting Tongji's leadership in intelligent construction. The pavilion has thus become a cultural ambassador, embodying the deep collaboration between China and Belgium under the Belt and Road Initiative in low-carbon construction and green urban development.