Technical Part of Final Report

(2 October 2002 – 2 January 2005)

 

 

 

 

Contract reference N. ASI/B7-301/98/679-10 (Asia-Link Programme)

Project Title: Euro-China Exchange: Technology and Culture of Generative Design Approach

Name of Beneficiary: Politecnico di Milano, Coordinator Prof. Celestino Soddu

Period covered by this Interim Report: 2 October 2002 – 2 January 2005.

Due date of this Interim Report:  2 July 2005

 

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary

 

The Asia-link program “Euro-China exchange, Technology and Culture of Generative Design Approach was started the 2nd of October 2002 and was implemented, following the accepted schedule, until the 2nd of January 2005. Activities were decelerated in the spring of 2003 when, because of Sars emergence, all the meetings between European and Chinese people were interrupted also for the strong will of involved European Universities that had forbidden holding meeting with Chinese together with European Students inside the Universities.

This caused the stop of the most of program activities until the summer 2003. The establishment of the remote activities, with videoconferences and Internet forums, was not enough to realize the requested results. In particular we needed to postpone the meetings in China planned for May related to establish applied projects and case studies for workshops and the summer courses in Europe planned for July.

Starting with September 2003, with the end of this sanitary emergence, all the activities were strongly implemented. Because of that reason, the length of the program was extended until January 2005 (3 months more) and all activities were implemented for reaching the planned aims.

Workshops in China, Summer (and Winter) courses in Europe, seminars in China and Europe, conferences and thesis supervisions were implemented following the new accepted schedule and action plan. Interesting feedbacks in more important Chinese magazines in the field of architecture and design were a really interesting (overcoming the expectations) result of these activities. This, together with demonstrations of interest in European magazines (annexed “Il Congresso”, a diplomatic/politic magazine of Italian delegation in European Parliament), and the interest of other Chinese universities (like Tsinghua and BCLU in Beijing, Hunan University, Xi’an University and Shanghai University) to participate to the activities of the program, gave us the opportunity to consider the program as a success. The applied projects, activity n. 6, involving European and Chinese partners were the most difficult activities to manage but, starting from the second year of the program, some common projects was implemented.

 

The program started up the October 2nd 2002 with the preparation of the meeting of December and the participation of all the partners to the international conference "Generative Art 2002" organized by the coordinator of the project Prof. Celestino Soddu.

First activity has been the presentation of our Asia-Link program to the meeting among the persons responsible of the Italy-China exchange activities, among which the coordinator of the program Celestino Soddu, with the rector of the Polytechnic in Milan, with Jun Han, Scientific Adviser of the embassy of the Chinese Popular Republic in Italy, with Mario Zanone Poma, President of the Chamber of Commerce Italian-Chinese and with Mr. Rosso, delegated of the foreign office of Italy, where the opportunities of implementation of the program are been identified. 

Subsequently (October-November 2002) the region Lombardia has proposed its participation to the program, through its formative activities office, supporting the amplification of the laboratory of generative design. 

In November 2002 the coordinator, Prof. Celestino Soddu was invited as guest speaker to the Asia Cities Summit in Singapore and he, with the manager of the project Enrica Colabella, presented some proposals and the running Asia-link program as important reality of mutual cooperation in the field of urban quality.

All the partners have participated in the meeting of December 10th 2002 in Milan for starting up the activities. The treated items have been: 

1. Finality and structure of the program and definition of the schedule of the activities and of their times of activation and implementation. 

2. Activation of the Laboratories of Generative Design in the centers of Kassel, Eindhoven, Shanghai and Tianjin. Laboratories have been activated in the following months, according to the program. 

3. Times and ways of realization of the first session of seminars in Europe that has been programmed for July 2003 to Eindhoven, Kassel and Milan following the program of the activity 3 and the results of the previous meetings. (Seminars were postponed to November/December 2003 because of Sars emergence, following the request of involved European universities)

4. Times and modes of realization of the workshops in China, programmed for September 2003 following the program of the activity 4 (the workshop was implemented the 15-28 September 2003)

5. Times and modes of the creation of the website of the program that will be active within April 2003. (The website was realized and it is actually working http://www.generativedesign.com/asialink/asialink.htm) 

6. Convocation of the next operational meeting, to activate the operational projects foreseen by the activity 6.  The meetings for implementing the activity 6 were held three times each year for all the duration of the program.

Starting from December 2002, all the partner’s delegations have participated to the international Generative Art conferences. The first in December 2002 and then in December 2003 and December 2004, contributing with papers and speeches in the round tables. The contributions of the Asia-link partners were published in the conference proceedings (the electronic version is in the website www.generativeart.com and the paper versions were published each year by the GDLab of Milan Polytechnic University). 

The 12 December 2002 the program Asia-Link was introduced to the participants to the Generative Art Conference and the themes and their operational potentialities have been discussed with a panel of international people expert in the program’s involved fields

The subsequent months, following the SARS emergence, all activities that needed direct contact were suspended but, using videoconferences, the preparation of common researches, common supervisions to master and PhD thesis and all concerning running activities was implemented.

In September 2003 the planned workshops in China were implemented with a one-week-workshop in Shanghai followed by one-week-workshop in Tianjin.

On November/December 2003 was held, in Milan, the “winter” course. It was the activity that, cause SARS, was not possible to hold in July 2003. The participation of all delegations and the structure of subsequent workshops: the 1st managed by Kassel GDLab and the 2nd by Milan GDLab with an “internal competition of mixed groups of master students from Europe and China, saw a success and the results (annexed) were really interesting.

On December 2003 the running activities of Asia-link program were presented as operative structure and as researches in progress to the GA2003 participants.

2004 was a full year of activities. In April was established a seminar “Identity&Design” in China and it was held in Beijing in the Italian Embassy, together with an exhibition of architectural design works concerning Chinese and European cities. The seminar was followed by a workshop about generative approach in Town identity and in Industrial production identity and quality. The participation involved not only the partners but also some European guests and other Chinese universities like Tsinghua and BLCU of Beijing, Shanghai University, Xi’an University and Hunan University. The proceedings, with papers concerning the common activities of the program, were published  (annexed).

In July 2004 a second moment of meeting all together, involving guests and European-Chinese postgraduate students, was the summer course held in Rome with the seminar  “De Identitate” and the subsequent workshop hosted in the spaces of the University of Rome La Sapienza.

In October 2004 a series of lectures and short workshops was held in Shanghai and Beijing together with meetings for implementing activity 6 and with the participation to the design week in Wuxi. The results were the acceleration of this activity focusing opportunities and constrains. This activity was supported by the previous report made by the management of the program (annexed)

On December 2004 the partner’s delegation meet in Milan to valuate the results of research activities, Master and PhD thesis involved in the program and all other activities made in the last two years.

On 15 December 2004 the final results of the Asia-link program were successful presented to a panel of participants to GA2004 international conference for final valuation of the activities.

The program ended the 2nd January 2005. Subsequent meetings between European partners focused this evaluation and concurred to prepare the final report.

 

According to the original project proposal, the activities were implemented:

Activity 1: Generative Design Labs.

GDLabs were established and fully worked with different projects and identified participants. Their activity is going ahead going over the end of the program.

Activity 2: Thesis supervision. The exchange supervision among all the partners was established. It was realized with meetings and with remote interchanges. Further collaborations are established between European and Chinese universities and this activity is going ahead also after the program ended. The results of these theses were presented in the last GA international conferences.

Activity 3: Summer courses in Europe. The planned courses were two. Following the accepted schedule, the 1st Summer Course (July 2003) was postponed cause Sars to 29 November 2003 (it was a Winter Course). The second Summer Course was held in July 2004.

Activity 4: Workshops in China and Europe. The program planned two workshops in China. The 1st workshop was held the 15 September in Shanghai and 22 September in Tianjin. In the same period meetings activity with Tsinghua University in Beijing were implemented too with the support of Tianjin staff. A second workshop was held in April 2004 in Beijing for involving all Chinese (Shanghai and Tianjin) partners together.  It was extended to Changsha (Hunan university) and Xi’an University that supported the related expenses. A 3rd workshop in China was implemented in October 2004 in Shanghai at Tongji and Shanghai Universities, followed by a meeting in Beijing and in Wuxi.

Activity 5: Joint Research programs for PhD and Master. The scheduled activities were implemented and some research programs, established between Milan-Tianjin, Eindhoven-Shanghai, Kassel-Shanghai involving professors and young researchers, are going ahead through the end of the program 

Also if not directly planned in the program, a Master (PhD level) course was designed by Milan and Kassel GDLab in Macau for all Chinese postgraduates about the generative approach to Town Identity management. It is not yet operative but its preparation is going ahead together with Macau University and it will start in September 2005.

Activity 6: Applied projects in China. Proposals were made by Shanghai and Tianjin for applied projects of Architecture and Town planning. The meetings in Shanghai and Tianjin identified some projects. The first one, a project for a new town in the north of China, was discussed together with government officers. Other projects, like the new Austro-Ungarian district and Italian district bin Tianjin, were planned, discussed but not yet implemented. Architectural projects in Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing was made by the GDLabs of Tongji and Milan and presented in seminars and exhibitions. The last one, the new tower in Tianjin, was a project realized by Milan and Tianjin partners together and presented to the local administration officers.

Activity 7: The International Conferences Generative Art GA2002, GA2003 and GA2004, made by the Milan Generative Design Lab in December 2002, 2003 and 2004 was the occasion to communicate to an international audience the activities of the Asia-link program and the common researches of its partners. The programs and the proceedings of these conferences (annexed) show a strong participation, with interesting printed papers, of all the partners and of other people from Asian Universities.

Activity 8: the Website of Asia-link program was established and upgraded. http://www.generativedesign.com/asialink/asialink.htm.  Exhibitions on Generative Design were realized in China (Beijing and Hong Kong) and in Europe (Milan). The participation, November 2002, of the coordinator of the program, Prof. Celestino Soddu, to the Asian City Summit in Singapore as invited speaker, was important to communicate the aims and the interest of this Asia-link program. The proceedings of Generative Art Conference, with the contribution of all the partners, were published in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The seminar in Beijing (Identity and Design) produced interesting papers and has implemented the common researches and the (annexed) published proceedings of the Summer seminar in Rome (De identitate) has confirmed the work in progress established by the Asia-link program. Some articles in European magazines and in important Chinese newspapers and magazines (Design magazine and Architecture magazine) were published (annexed) and some other will be published following the interest of this program that is going ahead after the end of Asia-link support.

 

 

I.                   Introduction

 

Ř       The overall internal conditions for the general project’s implementation were good and all partners participated to the activities with professors directly involved in the program and with post-graduates and doctorate students that participated to seminars, workshops and worked for their thesis with shared supervisions by European and Chinese professors. The Chinese partners appreciated the results and other Chinese universities asked to be involved to the program.

Ř       The external conditions were signed by the SARS problem in the period of February-July 2003. In this period the activities was implemented by remote meetings using videoconferences and by Internet. This partial interruption of activities is the reason for enlarging the project schedule from 24 months to 27 months sliding the end from 2 October 2004 to 2 January 2005.

Ř       Achievements (referring to overall objectives of the program):

Aligned with the overall objective of the Asia-Link Program, this project promoted multilateral networking of architecture and design education staff and advanced relationships among Politecnico di Milano University in Italy, University of Kassel in Germany, Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands, Tongji University and Tianjin University in China, enlarged successful to other Chinese Universities like Tsinghua and BLCU, Shanghai University, Xi’an University and Hunan University. The project developed Europe-China co-operation, first of all among the participating universities to fostering and promoting mutual awareness and understanding especially in the area of technology and methodology of generative approaches in creative building and cities design

The activities implementation has:

A.           Upgraded and enhanced the skills and mobility of teaching, research staff and postgraduate students of the participating universities, particularly in the field of architectural and industrial design, through (1) collaborative meetings and design competitions, (2) seminars in Europe and China, (3) workshops of special design project focuses in China, and (4) creation of joint research groups with specific themes among habitat identity and quality, industrial design and intelligent production, teaching methodology for evolutionary architecture, housing and industrial design;

B.           Promoted the exchange of experiences and encourage mutual knowledge and recognition of study programs and reciprocal exposure and access to higher education through the means listed above. The results of this activity promoted the involvement of Chinese postgraduates to European Universities (like Sun Chengyu, from Tongji University that is now at Eindhoven University) and the involvement of European professors in the teaching activity in China (like Celestino Soddu from Milan Polytechnic University that is now Honorary professor of Xi’an University and Shanghai University);

C.           Promoted networking between European and Chinese design education communities by extending to these new partners the existing network of Generative Design community, sustained by the international GA conference held annually in Politecnico di Milano University for the last 7 years;

D.           Enhanced the attractiveness of European design education within its higher education system among Chinese communities through the comprehensive cultural exchange and common experience in this collaborative project; The generative approach to design has been experimented by Chinese university partners and this experimentation has strongly connected Chinese and European teaching approach to design. The common interest, that will be presented in the papers in next GA conference, is the main part of the references that changed the design teaching approach in the involved partners;

E.          Experimented the mutual opportunities in the design and construction sectors and created opportunities of future extended co-operations for mutual economic benefits by introducing the most advanced technologies of intelligent design and industrial production in China. To fit these opportunities, the program has done an analysis of the opportunities in Europe-China development of generative approach for industrial production. This operative research and business plan will be presented successfully in the 2003 GA conference and was used to enhance the activity 6 of this program;

 

The project achieved the following multilaterally benefits:

1. The dissemination, diffusion and expansion in China of the latest development of an innovative approach to design and design education that has been developed to a mature level of leading stage for European and western design culture (generative design and its related tools, methods and applications);

2. The recognition and application of the generative design teaching model, and the development of a new operable and effective European-Chinese design education model based on the same technology and methodology;

3. The development, exchange, establishment and application of a new design methodology and practices that comparatively fuses and integrates the European formalization of design synthesis with Chinese dialectic analysis of design and evolutionary design process;

4. The diffusion and expansion of the technology and the philosophy of intelligent industrial production in the fields of building and industrial design, where this approach has as reference the European culture instead of US culture.

5.           Established the possibility of European-Chinese mutual opportunities for human resources in the field of professional design activities, in construction industry and emerging intelligent industrial production manufacturing industry.

 

Ř       Achievements (particular issues):

1.       Seminars, workshops, summer courses and the 3 international conferences gave the mutual opportunity to know how European and Chinese universities operate in the field of creative and innovative education systems. Exchanges will be done and now people from Chinese universities has consolidated European references and people from European universities has consolidate teaching and research activities in China;

2.       The cultural approach to design processes and, particularly the generative design processes, following the experiences and cultural heritage of Europe, has been known by Chinese partners and has changed the teaching approach in the involved Chinese universities and in other universities of China;

3.       The mutual opportunities to develop, with common teams, projects in the building and construction sector, which today is growing in China, were developed only partially. This because of problems linked to the loss of rules concerning intellectual property and difficulties linked to the organization of the process Design-Investment-Construction in China:

4.       Real good exchange has been realized in the field of design approaches for increasing quality and identity of local environments. This topic is strongly connected with the European tradition and was the main topic of two seminars, one in Beijing “Identity&Design” and the other in Rome “De Identitate”. This field is now, in the main field of Architecture and Town design, one of the most interesting topics for Chinese universities in connecting with European Universities.

5.       In the field of Intelligent Industrial production with generative approach, that is a particular European advanced operative research, the Chinese universities, particularly Tongji University (a partner) and Hunan university (that asked to be involved) extended their activities and doctorate thesis in this field. Articles regarding this topic and the Asia-link program and interviews to the coordinator of this program in Chinese magazines confirm this interest.

Ř       Constrains:

1.       The main constrain was in developing common design activities (as indicated in the point 3 of previous paragraph) because of the loss of rules concerning intellectual property in China and because of the structure of the process of building and town construction that limited the possibility to develop common design projects. But, in any case, some projects were made, also if only as proposals to the city government or inside common participation to design competitions.

 

II.                             Implementation of Activities

 

The activity of each partner was planned in the first two month of the program and developed, subsequently to the 1st meeting in Milan in December 2002 following the established program.

The Generative Design Labs (GDLabs) were established in Kassel, Eindhoven, Shanghai (Tongji Univ) and Tianjin and the activities started up in January 2003.

In April 2003, following the need to re-schedule in fall/winter the meetings in China with the leader of the program and the summer courses in Europe, planned for July 2003, we fixed the planned September 2003 workshops in China and rescheduled the seminars from July to November 2003, before the scheduled participation to the Generative Art International Conference, GA2003. In the meantime the coordinator asked to the EC to enlarge the duration of the project from 24 to 27 months with the same cost.

The second year of activities was implemented following the schedule and upgrading each event for fitting the planned results. In particular,

A.     Following the suggestions of the meeting with the monitoring team, we worked to implement the activity 6, that was not enough implemented in the 1st year. In particular the Chinese partners have found out some interesting applied projects in the field of architecture and town design. These projects will be implemented jointing the Generative Design Labs teams, European and Chinese together. We have identified and approved some study cases in Town design, architecture and Industrial design and we used them in the Workshop made in April 2004 in Beijing, in the summer course in July 2004 and in meetings and workshops in September and November 2004.

B.     The Generative Design Lab of Politecnico di Milano implemented the development of a structured study for the promotion and management of operative projects based on generative design approach. The study programme cover from a business plan related to generative design opportunities in China until the using of the study results. This implemented study was useful to pursue the aims of the program.

C.     Developing academic mutual exchange in research and thesis supervision:

-           We identified and developed some fields of research together with the European and Chinese GDLabs.

-           We identified and discussed the researches running in the involved GDLabs and the presentation to international conferences. The participation of all the Labs involved in the Asia-link projects will be really good and the international participants to the conferences appreciated the work done together with European and Chinese involved universities.

D.     Workshops in China and in Europe and summer/winter courses were implemented as scheduled.

1.       Meetings, lectures and workshops in Shanghai, Tongji University, and in Tianjin University (14 September – 2 October 2003 and in Shanghai in October 2004)

2.       Meetings, lectures in Xi’an, Changsha (Hunan University) and Beijing (March-April 2004)

3.       Workshop and seminar in Beijing (April 2004)

4.       Summer course in Rome (July 2004)

5.       A sequence of meetings with Government and University people in Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing for establishing applied projects regarding the restoring of old buildings using generative advanced approaches, new architectures, the rebuilding of historical quarters and the project of new towns. (September 2003 in Tianjin and Shanghai, April 2004 in Xi’an, Changsha, Shanghai and Beijing, June 2004 in Shengzhen, October 2004 in Shanghai and Wuxi, November 2004 in Shanghai and Beijing)

E.     Meetings with other Chinese Universities (Tsinghua University September 2003, Xi’an University, Hunan University and Shanghai University April 2004, October and November 2004) to enlarge and establish new research activities jointing European and Chinese partners.

F.      The 5th, 6th and 7th Generative Art Conference GA2002, GA2003 and GA2004. We made and sent the call for papers and all GDLabs worked to prepare and present their papers.

G.      We implemented the videoconferencing activity and Internet forums to enhance suggestions and discussion among partners, especially during the SARS emergency.

H.     The website http://www.generativedesign.com/asialink/asialink.htm was implemented and upgraded.

I.        Meeting with all partners was done in China and in Europe. Dates were December 2002, September 2003, December 2003, April 2004, October 2004 and December 2004. During SARS emergency (spring 2003) we used videoconferencing.

J.       This activity was self-sustainable because it will be supported by Macau administration. The Milan and Kassel GDLabs made a sequence of meetings in Macau with local Government, University of Macau, Arcasia architects association and IEEM that established the starting up of a PHD level Master (Master IDEAS) on the topics of Generative Approach, opened to post graduated people of China and other Asian countries. The starting time is to fall 2005. The topic is the Generative Approach in the management of Town Identity.

 

Description of each planned Activity

 

Ř       Activity 1, Generative Design Labs.

The 5 Generative Design Labs, GDLabs of Milan, Eindhoven, Kassel, Shanghai and Tianjin were established soon after the starting of the program. Their activity was planned in the first meeting in Milan December 2002 and they worked together during the all time of the program. Each of them has established its website and the activity of each GDLabs was presented in all the seminars (Beijing 2004 and Rome 2004) and in all the international conferences (GA2002, GA2003 and GA2004) with papers and posters. Their activity is going ahead after the end of the program.

1.       GDLab Milan. This Lab, directed by the coordinator of the program, planned the most of the scheduled activities. Particularly the 3 international conferences GA2002, GA2003 and GA2004, the seminar “Identity&Design” in Beijing, the “winter” course in Milan, the summer course in Rome, the European workshops in Milan, with lectures in Changsha, Xi’an, Shanghai, Beijing and meetings in Wuxi and Shengsen and some other events like the exhibitions about Generative Design in Rome, Beijing, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Washington DC. The involved staff was: Celestino Soddu, Quinsan Ciao, Enrica Colabella, Giovanni Luca Soddu, Marco Longatti, Li Zhang, Alessandro Balducci, GFG Partners, Aleadesign srl, Gangemi Ed, Daniele Gugelmo, Viviana Basilico and the master students.

2.       GDLab Kassel. This Lab, directed by Hans Dehlinger, had a relevant position in research common activities in the field of industrial design linking its research with the staff of Tongji univ. and planning and implementing the activity in China, particularly the workshops (activity 4) and the activities 5 and 6.  This GDLab presented their research reports and papers in all the activities done by the program. The involved staff was: Hans Dehlinger, Marcus Shein, Oliver Endemann, Ole Werner and other postgraduate students.

3.       GDLab Eindhoven. This Lab, directed by Bouke de Vries, had a strong work concerning generative approach in Architectural design particularly in activities 2 and 5 concerning master thesis and common research. The involved master students, like Sun Chengyu from Tongji Univ, has established academic relationship with this Lab continuing after the end of the program.  This GDLab presented their research reports and papers in most activities done by the program. The involved staff was: Bouke de Vries, Aant van der Zee, Daan Willems and other postgraduate students.

4.       GDLab Tongji Shanghai. This Lab, directed by Wang BoWei, associate-director Zhong Tang, had a relevant activity in Thesis supervision (Activity 2) and research programs for PhD and Master students (Activity 5) in the field of architecture and industrial design, presenting these activities in all the seminars and workshops implemented by the program. More, this Lab organized the Shanghai workshops and meetings for discussing thesis and research activities. The involved staff is:  Wang Bowei, Xiang Wang, Hong Wu, Le-Yan Zhang, Meng Wang, Ji-wei Lu, Yi-Jie Zhang, Ming Dai, Cheng-yu Sun, Yong-yi Lu, Xing-Yu Yang, Zhen-yu Li, Xi Xu, Zhao-Xi Liu, Yi Chen ,Kai-fend Wang, Xiao-Sheng Huang, Yao-dong Zhang, Jing-Wen Gu, Jie Wu, Zhong Tang.

 

In the image the GDLab of Tongji University in Shanghai.

 

5.       GDLab Tianjin. This Lab, directed by Yang Changming had a relevant activity in one of the more difficult field, the applied projects in China (activity 6) realizing with the Milan Lab some common teams for applied projects in Tianjin (the Austro-Ungarian district, the new city near Tianjin and a new tower in the city). The activity of this lab was also applied to the other fields, like research programs, thesis supervision and organization of the workshop in Tianjin University. The common design activity between this Lab and the Lab in Milan is going ahead over the end of the program. The involved staff was: Chang-Ming Yang, Hua Zhang, Fan-Wei Zhang, Jie Cai, Jun Ren, Xi-Xin Chen, Lin Tian, Jing Bai, Li-Jun Zheng, Jin-Song Zhao, Li Yan, Xiao-Bing Wang.

 

In the image the GDLab of Tianjin University.

 

Ř       Activity 2, Thesis supervision.

The involved thesis were:

1.       European: PhD thesis of Marcus Shein and master thesis of Ole Werner guided by Prof. Hans Dehlinger in the field of industrial generative design, Master thesis of Daan Willems under the guide of Prof. Bauke de Vries in the field of Architectural Design Management Systems, doctorate Li Zhang and master students Michael Zamblera, Cesare Balossi,  Davide Ghisleni, Federica Guerra, Gianluca Pesenti under the supervision of Prof. Celestino Soddu and Prof. Enrica Colabella in the field of Architectural Generative Design.

2.       Chinese: Master candidates Xiang Wang, Hong Wu, Le-Yan Zhang, worked on the inherited generation mechanisms of university campuses and similar type of architectural complexes led by Professor Bo-Wei Wang; Master candidate Meng Wang, guided by the advisor Professor Ji-wei Lu, made a thesis on the inherited generation mechanisms of urban public spaces; Ph.D. candidates Yi-Jie Zhang and Ming Dai joint by Master candidate Cheng-yu Sun, under the guidance of Professor Yong-yi Lu, identified the inherited generation mechanisms in Chinese historical architecture preservation; Master candidate Xing-Yu Yang, guided by the advisor Associate Professor Zhen-yu Li, worked on the inherited generation mechanisms of various urban housing; Master candidate Xi Xu and Zhao-Xi Liu, guided by their advisors Associate Professor Yi Chen and Lecturer Kai-fend Wang on generation mechanisms of Chinese traditional and ancient furniture design; Ph.D. candidate Xiao-Sheng Huang and Master candidate Yao-dong Zhang, guided by their advisors Professor Jing-Wen Gu and Lecturer Jie Wu, on computer implementation of shape and body representation governed by various generation mechanisms; Xi-Xin Chen, Ph.D. candidate, Jing Bai, Ph.D. candidate, Li-Jun Zheng, Ph.D. candidate, Jin-Song Zhao, Ph.D. candidate, Li Yan, Ph.D. candidate, Xiao-Bing Wang, Master candidate, on architecture and Lin Tian, Ph.D. candidate, on Ancient Architecture Preservation, under the supervision of Prof. Chang-Ming Yang, Prof. Hua Zhang, Prof. Fan-Wei Zhang and Prof. Jie Cai.

3.       Title of thesis with official shared supervisors:

- Li Yan, Ph.D. candidate, “Generative Design and Grids” (Tianjin, Milan, Kassel)

- Rong Lin, Master candidate, “Generative design and Codes of Roofs and Doors”, (Tianjin, Milan, Kassel)

- XinXin Chen, Ph.D. candidate, “Generative Approach in architecture restoring”, (Tianjin, Milan)

- Zhang Yijie, Ph.D. candidate, “Generative design of Chinese Pagodas”, (Tongji, Milan)

- Sun Chengui, Master candidate, “Higher or Denser?”, (Tongji, Eindhoven)

- Dai Ming, Ph.D. candidate, “Urban Generative design”, (Tongji, Milan)

- Liu Zhao Xi, Xu Xi, “Forniture generative design”, (Tongji, Milan, Kassel)

 

Ř       Activity 3 Summer (winter) courses and workshops in Europe

1.       Winter course in Milan (December 2003) realized together with a design competition for the participation of common European-Chinese teams that worked together. (Annexed results)

This workshop was improved with the competition “Idea as Code” that was created and implemented during the workshop in Milan in December 2003 by the manager of the program Enrica Colabella.  We defined research teams with together European and Chinese postgraduates and doctorate students. The results-posters of these collaboration and of the common research approach are also in the website. The results-posters of these joint researches were also presented to the Generative Art Exhibition in the exhibition hall of Politecnico di Milano University during the GA2003 International Conference (annexed results). Using this experience, we defined the international competition “Idea as Code” opened to international students. The call for proposals was launched in the website www.generativeart.com with the deadline of the end of August 2004 and as price, for European and Chinese participants, was the participation to GA2004 conference and exhibition in Italy. The winner was a German student but the first 5 students, 3 European and 3 Asian, were invited to present their work and they came to GA2004 conference/exhibition.

Hans Dehlinger, GDLab of Kassel University, managed a further workshop in the “winter course” in Milan. The results of the Workshop "from arbitrary starting point via generator to result" are annexed.

Participants to the winter course in Milan 2003:

first name

Celestino

last name

Soddu

occupation