YUNCHOU Building, a cooperation program between Tongji University and the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, was unveiled today in the university to inaugurate the Sino-Italian Center for Sustainability.

The building and center were initiated in 2012 in an agreement between Tongji and the Italian ministry and was joined by China's Ministry of Science and Technology in 2014.

It was originally built in 1983 and used as the main office of the university's faculty of economics and management.

Under the Sino-Italian project, the building has gone through major renovation and became an energy-saving and environment-friendly one, with technologies such as rooftop greening and photovoltaics, effective lighting and air conditioning systems and water saving control.

The renovation was realized with joint efforts by Archea, an Italian architecture firm, and the Architecture Institute of Planning and Research of Tongji University.

"It is a result of sufficient communication in architecture design, energy efficiency and related areas between China and Italy," said Fang Shouen, executive vice president of the university. "It has played a role in bridging cooperation in education and research on sustainable development between China and Italy, or even Europe during its construction."

Francesco La Camera, Director General IMELS, said the building was not only a window of academic cooperation, but also a demonstration center for Sino-Italian collaboration in solving China’s challenges in sustainable development.

Stefano Beltrame, Consul General of Italy in Shanghai, said the building and the center were part of the achievements of cooperation between China and Italy in sustainable development.

He also pointed out that Shanghai Party Secretary Han Zheng’s ongoing visit to Italy also represented the increasing close ties between the two countries with all-round collaboration in education, science and technology, economics and humanity.

Presidents and representatives from several Italian universities, such as University of Bologna and Venice International University, also attended the inauguration ceremony and agreed to establish an alliance for Sino-Italian universities to enhance cooperation in sustainability education.

A forum about scientific and technological cooperation between China and Italy in environment and sustainable development was also held at Tongji by the university and Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea.