It has been more than 450 days since Yang Fanyuan, a representative of the Architectural Design Institute at China Jiangsu International, started working for the vocational school project in Cote d'Ivoire.

The architect arrived in Abidjan, the biggest city of the West African country, in May 2021 for design of seven vocational schools, which is a key initiative in the country’s 10-year development strategy. These schools are expected to educate more talents and help address problems such as employment difficulties for the young population.

Yang’s main job is to present the design plans completed in China to local clients, collect their ideas and opinions, and report the feedback to domestic architects for adjustment. He also needs to file the plans with local authorities.

Architectural design is a complex process involving multiple disciplines, such as construction, water supply, drainage and interior factors. The country uses European and French standards with special local requirements. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the shipping of construction materials may take a longer time and at a higher cost, posing a new challenge to cost control. Against this backdrop, the architectural design for these schools had to take into consideration of all factors and undertake rounds of changes.

Yang said he takes pride in his work because he is able to apply his knowledge and skills to make change happen. As a representative of China Jiangsu International, he also regards it an honor and a responsibility to improve the branding of Chinese products and services through his hard efforts.

After the architectural design got approved, construction of the ABOBO campus, one of the seven schools, started successfully on January 24 this year. This milestone also means Yang is closer to returning to China.

Looking into the future, Yang expects to take on more challenging projects overseas and hopes to live up to the expectation of “growing into new-era exemplary youths who have ideals, dare to assume responsibility, and are hardworking and able to endure hardship.” Yang also said his dream is to continue to contribute to the construction of the Chinese brand as an architect.

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