Program Methodology

(a)    Methods of implementation
This project utilizes several methods in parallel for its implementation, including
o    Establishing distributed research lab/centre of generative design, technologies and methodologies study at sites of participating partners to manage and coordinate the related activities at various sites during and after the sponsored life span of the project. In particular a net of Generative Design Labs, one in each involved university, managed by the GDLab of Milan (or by a Generative Art&Science International Centre, if established) ;
o    Conducting short training courses in Europe to provide training to Chinese as well as European faculties and postgraduates
o    Organizing workshop in China to provide practical experiment opportunities for European and as well as Chinese participants
o    Jointly managed and supervise applied research projects in selected focus directions
o    Jointly engaging industrial practical focused design projects in China
o    Organizing local open exhibitions in China
o    Organizing international conferences in Europe
o    Facilitate and fostering international and regional academic and industrial publications of the project’s findings, experiences and results

(b)    Reasons for the methodology
All of the methods and the type of activities employed in the project are chosen effectively serve the objective and goal of the project and ultimately serve the overall objective of the Asian-Link Programme.
o    The distributed GDLabs, generative design labs (or centres), in all participating partners’ sites provide not only an effective managerial, cultural and activity centre for all proposed activities at these corresponding sites but also a effective network of bodies for communicating, managing and coordinating future continuation of research, teaching and practice activities to be sprouted from this project yet sustained well-beyond its Asian-Link sponsored lifespan.
o    The training course in Europe provides a well-situated training environment by taking advantages of on-site European professors and facilities in the original environment of establishment and development of the major technology involve in the project, generative design methodologies and technologies. Such course also provides Chinese participants a great opportunity to meet their European colleagues and to personally experience the European architectural and design culture as well as research culture and environment. Such cultural and environment experiences, besides technical training, will leave lasting positive impacts to Chinese participants and benefit mutual understanding tremendously in the future collaboration, especially for those who will be visiting Europe for the first time at this opportunity.
o    The workshops in China offer a great opportunity of practical experiments to European participants as well as Chinese participants. With experiment topics and major activities situated in China, participants will enjoy the advantages of direct and close awareness particular and practical needs and requirements due to Chinese culture, tradition and specific industrial practices. Furthermore, the workshops provide to European participants an opportunity of direct personal experience in the cultural and architectural environment of China, which would have profound effect in future collaborations between the two continents and two cultures.
o    The jointly managed and supervise applied research projects are designed to accelerate the design and development in the related area by taking advantages of the European and Chinese synergies. The joint managing and supervision will allow both European and Chinese partners to upgrade each others the state-of-the-art research work through closer exchange and common focuses.
o    Jointly engaging into Chinese design projects of industrial practical nature not only provides and opportunity to put the related technologies into realistic tests but also directly introduces the new technologies and thus their applications and influences into design and building industries of China. Such introduction will not only increase the awareness of European higher education system and technologies among Chinese industries and communities, but also directly affect the productivity of the related industries and thus the economic growth of the region.
o    The local open exhibitions are chosen as a means for disclosing and publicising the result of various activities of the project. This is one of the most effective methods to spread and publicising achievements and experiences among building and design communities in China.
o    The international conference is another method chosen to publicising the experience and achievements of the project. In addition to the Chinese community focused exhibitions, the international conferences will make the experience and achievements known to European communities of academics and industries, as well larger communities of the world.
o    Besides concentrated and focused exhibitions and conferences, additional publications in various regional and international journals and magazines would allow experiences and findings related to various field to be disseminated to corresponding communities.

Among all other technologies and design methodologies, the generative design methodology in design teaching, design creation and managing design processes is chosen to fit European tradition in formalization processes and Chinese tradition in reaching the design objectives. The technologies have been developed in Europe for years, and all experiences and results from the previous developments are directly usable in this project. Particularly, the European and Chinese tradition fitting attitude has been experimented in teaching activity at Politecnico di Milano that involved Italian, German, Dutch and Chinese people together. The European tradition has clearly seen represented by the traditional renaissance codes of harmony and the logical structure of using recognizable rules in all the design activity. The Chinese tradition is represented by the multilateral symbolic reference in the design choice and in the analytical knowledge of designers’ subjectively prescribed aspects of the incoming result. Moreover, the generative teaching methodology, coming from experiments of emulation of design processes with Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life, researched, experimented and practiced by the three European involved teams, is a creative logical structure to manage and communicate the complex evolutions in design process and design knowledge, particularly in the situation of architectural design and design education.

The project builds its application-oriented activities on top of the previous research of Chinese small town’s township design model conducted at Tongji University. Such research provides a foundation for characterising Chinese architectural and planning of township, which will be directly available for modelling and generating experiments under the new technologies and methodologies of generative design. Furthermore, the most original research work of ancient Chinese architectural studies conducted at Tianjin University offers another perspective of characterising Chinese architectural and design traditions and methodologies as well. Such work provides a ground for comparative study and integration of synergies and results between European and Chinese methodologies in creative design generations.

The project directly utilizes the network and the annual international conference in Generative Design that has been on going for five years. New topics will be introduced as new chapters/sessions to introduce the project’s findings and their fitting between European and Chinese design culture.

(d)    Procedures for internal evaluation
An internal mid-term evaluation will be conducted and managed by a special group of experts appointed and generated from the participants of the annual International Conference of Generative Arts that will meet during the Conference at the end of the 1st year of the project. The leader of the mid term evaluation group will be elected by the scientific committee of the GA conference. The evaluation group, using all the Objectively Verifiable Indicators and with the presentation of the partial results to this international panel by the project leader and the project staff, also with all available material and information published on the internet and circulated among the group members prior to the conference, will conduct detailed deliberations and deliver conclusion about the competence of the project progress. There will be a report of evaluation to the funding agency if it is required.

(e)    Level of involvement and activity of other organisations (partners or others) in the project
Politecnico di Milano (leader institution) is the place of summer courses, workshops and Annual Conferences on Generative Art. In the Generative Design Lab of Department of Architecture and Planning is set up the team to manage the program. This Lab brings to the project the longer experience in Generative approach in teaching and research activities, generative design and projects. This university is involving professors, young teachers and postgraduate student to fit the aim of Asia-link programme.
University of Kassel: is a place of summer courses. It brings to the project a long experience in teaching design and in generative art, involving in the program professors, young teachers and postgraduate students.
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven: is a place of summer courses. It brings to the project a long experience in teaching design, involving in the program professors, young teachers and postgraduate students.
Tongji University participates with its core faculty and postgraduate students of college of architecture and planning, exchange participants and project collaborators. They bring to the project their Chinese township design and planning expertises and their associations and links to local industry and government agencies, and further their design projects with participating resources. Location for workshop.

Tianjin University participates with its core faculty and postgraduate students of college of architecture and planning, as trainees, exchange participants and project collaborators. They bring to the project their Chinese traditional and ancient architecture expertises, and demonstrative projects in the field with supporting resources as well as their associations and links to local industries and government agencies. Location for workshop.

(f)    Reasons for the role of each partner
Prof. Celestino Soddu, project leader and coordinator, is the Chair of Generative Art annual international conference and director of Generative Design Lab at Department of Architecture and Planning. He has established his worldwide reputation as the leader of the academic field of research and practice of Generative Design and Art, as well as a well known and respected scholar of related fields of Artificial Intelligence in Design and architectural and industrial design methods. He has cumulated strong record of lecturing and research experiences with China in recent years, as invited senior research fellow at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a well received guest lecturer at various Universities and design institutes in Shanghai and Beijing, a personal exhibition of researches at Hong Kong City Museum recently and research activity in Macao.

Prof. Quinsan Ciao, co-coordinator, is currently a contract professor at Politecnico di Milano. Also professor of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She brought to the project the expertise and effectiveness in Chinese partner collaboration. With her international (Europe, US, Singapore and China) teaching, research and professional experiences, her training background of both eastern and western world, and her long time enthusiasm in bridging west and east design education and culture, she is well equipped to be a critical role in the preparation and implementation of this project. Last, but not least, her establishment of research, teaching and professional work in the fields of architectural design and research, design methodologies and technologies, and digital simulation work in building and environmental aspects will allow her to make important contributions to various activities in all phases of the project.

Prof. Enrica Colabella is member and co-founder of Generative Design Lab at Department of Architecture and Planning of Politecnico di Milano University. Her topic is the implementation of exchanges between European and Chinese cultural approaches, operating in the field of languages interchange and construction of transformation codes.

Prof. Hans Dehlinger, director of the Product Design Institute of the University of Kassel, with his long experience of teaching activities in the entire world and particularly in China, and with the multiple workshops’ experiences and co-supervision of thesis with Prof. Celestino Soddu on the field of design approach, gives a relevant contribution to the success of the project.

Prof. Bouke de Vries, of Eindhoven University of Technologies, has a long experience in teaching design methodology. The teaching approach of his group was presented and deeply discussed with Prof. Celestino Soddu in Generative Art international conferences. His experience in Chinese universities can give a relevant contribution to the implementation of this project.

Prof. Bowei Wang, dean of the faculty of architecture at Tongij University, has a long experience with Prof. Quinsan Ciao and with Prof. Celestino Soddu, that came in Tongij University for a lecture and a meeting on generative design. In this meeting, in 2001, Prof. Bowei proposed to Prof. Soddu to built up a Generative Design Lab as the one in Politecnico di Milano University. Prof. Bowei has a long experience in teaching collaboration and bring to the project his personal experience in involving different cultural entities in a jointed cultural project.

Prof. Changming Yang, Dean of the Institute of Architectural design at Tianjin University, His particular specialty in the field of archaeological study in ancient Chinese buildings and historical Chinese building renovation will allow him to play a very important role in this project in terms of bridging European and Chinese architectural traditions and cultures.

(a)    Team proposed for implementation of the project
1.    Coordinator: Celestino Soddu, Politecnico di Milano University.
2.    2 managers working in Generative Design Lab of Politecnico di Milano University for the managing and implementation of the project. Their activity is focused in all the activity of the programme. (their activity in teaching too is inside the cost of this position). In particular the 1st manager, English and Chinese language, follows the relation with other universities and with external partners in constructing further opportunities, helps the Chinese universities to organize the workshops and the applied projects. The 2nd manager follows the teaching activities and experimentations, the publishing in paper and in the website and masters and PhD programs. The two managers support the coordinator in the implementation of the entire programme. The managers teach in summer courses and in workshops too.
3.    1 technician as web master of all the GDLabs (in Milan)
4.    1 technician part-time for the Generative Design Lab of Politecnico di Milano
5.    1 technician part-time for the Generative Design Lab of Kassel University
6.    1 technician part-time for the Generative Design Lab of Eindhoven Tech. University
7.    1 technician part-time for the Generative Design Lab of Tongji University
8.    1 technician part-time for the Generative Design Lab of Tianjin University

Summer course teachers (each year):
4 of Politecnico di Milano University
1 external from European Universities
3 of Kassel University
2 of Eindhoven University
1 of Tongji University
1 of Tianjin University
1-2 technician
Workshops teachers:
3-4 of Politecnico di Milano University
2 of Kassel University
2 of Eindhoven University
2 of Tongji University
2 of Tianjin University
1-2 technician

GENERATIVE DESIGN
PROGRAM
PEOPLE
ACTIVITIES
SCHEDULE
QUARTERLY REPORTS