Quarterly
Updates
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 Quarterly Update: 2 October 2003– 2 April 2003.
Due date of this quarterly update: 2 April 2003
I. Introduction and description of first activities
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. This proposal is
in discussion.
All the partners have participated in the meeting of December 10th 2002.
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 centres 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 2002 to Eindhoven, Kassel and Milan following
the program of the activity 3 and the results of the previous meetings.
4. Times and modes of realization of the workshops in China, programmed
for September 2002 following the program of the activity 4
5. Times and modes of the creation of the website of the program that will
be active within April 2002.
6. Convocation of the next operational meeting, to activate the operational
projects foreseen by the activity n. 6
All the delegations, with the exception of Eindhoven’s partner (cause arrived
unexpectedly problems), have participated to the international Generative
Art conference the days 11, 12 and December 13th 2002, contributing with papers
and speeches in the round tables.
On December 12 the program Asia-Link was introduced to the participants
to the generative Art Conference and the themes and their operational potentialities
have been discussed.
II. Description of the subsequent activities
According to the original project proposal, the tasks to be conducted include:
1. Activity 1: Generative Design Center/Lab, Planning/Preparing
Near completion of planning and preparation phase of Activity
1, by establishing plans for Generative Design Center/Labs with identified
participants.
2. Activity 2: Thesis supervision. Preparing the structure
for jointing supervisions.
Presenting thesis on generative design
3. Activity 3: Summer courses preparation.
The 1st seminars are planned for July 2003 in Eindhoven, Kassel
and Milan.
4. Activity 4: Workshops, Planning/Preparing
Started planning and preparation phase of Activity 4, by identifying
design topics and participants of workshops in China. The planning and preparation
phase is expected to complete on time with identified design projects and
participants.
5. Activity 5: Joint Research programs for PhD and Master,
Planning/Preparing
Completed the Planning and Preparation phase of Activity 5
on time, with established plans of graduate (PhD and Master) research programs;
Furthermore, each partner have already identified candidate for the programs,
and are ready to proceed the implementation phase;
6. Activity 6: Applied projects in China. First proposals
by Milan and Kassel Labs.
7. Activity 7: International Conference Generative Art
2002 realized by the Generative Design lab of Milan
8. Activity 8: Publishing the proceedings of GA conference
(with papers of partners)
Extending and Improving Generative Art & Science Network
internationally.
Realizing exhibitions on Generative Design
The activity of each partner was developed, subsequently to the 1st
meeting in Milan and the Generative Art International Conference, following
the established program. Their individual progress is summarized in the following
sub-sections, respectively.
Politecnico di Milano University, Generative Design
Lab
Activity October-December 2002
1. Realization of the Generative Art Conference 2002 (11-12-13
December 2002)
2. Realization of the Generative Art Exhibition at Milan
Polytechnic University (9-14 December)
3. Realization of Generative Performance Festival at Aula
Magna of Milan Polytechnic the 12th and 13th December 2002.
4. Realization and publishing of the book of proceedings
of Generative Art Conference 2002. The book was printed in time for the conference.
5. Participation to institutional meetings concerning
Italy-China exchanges.
6. Preparing and managing the meeting of Asia-Link partners
in Milan Polytechnic University the 10th December 2002.
7. Presenting papers (C.Soddu and E.Colabella) at generative
Art Conference 2002
8. 3 Thesis on generative design presented for discussion
at School of Architecture, Politecnico di Milano
Activity January-March 2003:
9. Expansion of Generative Design Lab operational structure
with new PC and new people.
10. Presentation of the advanced searches of the laboratory
to the Conference "International Nonlinear Sciences Conference" to Vienna,
with the contribution of C. Soddu and E.Colabella, of the Generative Design
Lab.
11. Presentation of the advanced researches of the Generative
Design Lab in other universities in Europe and in the world, for example at
Cities Asia Summit in Singapore, at ISEA, Nagoya Japan, at Macau Cultural
Center, at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, at Alexandria Architecture
Center, at IBD Center, Washington DC, at Ball State University, at PDC in
California.
12. Realization of three exhibitions of generative design
at:
A. IDB Cultural Center, Washington DC
B. Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles
C. University Catholic of Peru, Lima
These exhibitions are still active until the end of April, and they will
subsequently be moved to other sites, like Macao, Shanghai, Tianjin and in
Europe
13. Implementation of the website of the program, showing
all the activities of every partner.
14. Search of possible operational developments of the
program:
A. Meeting with possible Italian partners for activity and projects of mutual
interest in China
B. Possibility to spread in China some scientific magazine of the involved
fields.
C. Search of European interlocutors for the realization of experimental
generative architectures in China
15. Planning and preparation of a series of lecture and
workshop of Celestino Soddu and Enrica Colabella in Shanghai and Tianjin for
May-June 2002 (this activity will be postponed for the actual sanitary problems
in the area)
16. Preparation of the seminar in Milan for the end of
July 2002, as defined in the program.
17. Preparation of a seminar in Macau for September 2002
on generative design approach and urban identity management.
Team involved:
Prof. Celestino Soddu, coordinator of the program
Prof. Quinsan Ciao, co-coordinator of Chinese partners
Prof. Enrica Colabella, manager
Ing Giovanni Luca Soddu, manager
Arch. Marco Longatti, collaborator
A group of post graduate students
Kassel University, School of Art, Generative Design Lab Kassel
Project Activities
1. Implementation of the Generative Design Lab Kassel.
The Generative Design Lab has been implemented as a part of the “Institut
für Rechnergestütztes Darstellen und Entwerfen” at the School of
Art, Kassel. Room Nr 77 in the atrium complex of the School of Art has been
allocated for the project. The acquisition of lab computer equipment
as specified in the project contract has been completed. In addition to the
founds of the project for equipment resources the School of Art Kassel has
supported the Asia Link Project with an additional Workstation including some
software. The equipment is installed and operable. The internet connection
will be established until the end of april 2003.
2. Members of the Generative Design Lab Kassel
Univ. Prof Hans Dehlinger (PhD)
Dipl.Des. Markus Schein (PhD cand.)
Dipl.Des. Oliver Endemann
Dipl.Des cand. Ole Werner
Research topics of the members in context of the Asia Link Project:
-) Development of Generative Software Prototypes for Different Fields of
Application in Architecture and Industrial Design
-) Theories and Methods of Evolutionary Design
-) Teaching Methods for Generative Design
-) Generative Art Projects
-) Information Systems / Programming
3. Research Activities
3.1 Current Research Regarding the Activities of Team Members in Kassel
“Logo”. A program generating variations out of a finite set of combinations.
“Loftgenerator”. A generative program for applied industrial design.
“Uhrmacher”. A generative program using combinatorial techniques.
“Liegengenerator.” A generative program for mass customization of foldable
furniture.
Search for manufactures of the furniture generated by the program has started.
(Applied Generative Procedures in Furniture Design. Proceedings of the 5th
International Conference GA 2002.)
“Next Generation(s) Computer Aided Design - Next Generation Computer Aided
Design Education?" Paper submitted to ICSID 2nd Educational Conference 2003
Hanover, pending.
3.2 Research in Combination with teaching activities.
Seminar “Generative Prozesse und Verfahren” (Generative Processes and Procedures).
This seminar was the third one related to different subjects of Generative
Design at the Department of Product Design of the School of Art Kassel.
“Construction of Design Spaces”. Graduate Research Project. To be completed
in early October.
Preparation of the first Asia Link Joint Workshop in Kassel. Up coming in
July.
3.3 Exhibition Activities
Preparation of a contribution to Sigraph 2003.
Will be published in the conference proceedings of Sigraph 2003, art catalogue,
p. 41, 42.
“Digital Clouds”. Exhibition of Generative Art Work. Inauguration: Early
summer (schedule not fixed yet) at “Galerie Sommerfeld”, Erlangen, Germany.
“Rundgang 2003”. Presentation of selected student work from the Generative
Design seminar. Up coming July.
4. Proposals for Operative Projects
Collecting and preparing material for a common web portfolio presenting
in an overview different works of Generative Design and Generative Art. An
example of a web portfolio, concerning some of the above mentioned research
projects of the Generative Design Lab Kassel will come up in the end of may
for the publication in the common platform of the Asia Link Project.
Establishing connections to firms with Computer Numeric Controlled Manufacturing
facilities (First contacts have already been established in Kassel). Developing
designs in the field of Interior Architecture using generative approaches
and testing prototypical production with firms.
Eindhoven University of Technology
people involved:
Prof.Dr.ir. Bauke de Vries
Chair of the Design Systems group of the Faculty of Building and Architecture
at Eindhoven University of Technology.
Research expertise: Computer Aided Architectural Design, Product and Process
Modeling, Design information storage and retrieval, VR technology and Interfaces,
CAD tools and Sketch tools, Geometric modeling in Architectural Design, Knowledge
Based Systems
Educational activities: CAAD and Design Methodology course for first years
students, Capita Selecta course for graduate students, ICT module in the Post
Doctoral programme on Architectural Design Management Systems
Management activities: Chair of the Design Systems group, Management of
the research on the Design and Decision Support Systems.
Author of more than 30 publications that have been presented on international
conferences. Member of 13 PhD committees. Project task leader in Brite Euram
project. Vice chair of CAAD Futures foundation.
Ing. Ir. Aant van der Zee
Assistant Professor in the Design Systems group of the Faculty of Building
and Architecture at Eindhoven University of Technology.
Activities after December 2002:
1. establishment of the Generative Design Lab
> GD system acquiring a Pentium IV desktop computer
2. preparation of Summer Course in July 2002, following
the schedule.
Tongji University
Activity 1: Establishing Generative Design Lab
In Tongji University, the Generative Design Research Lab is to be established
with the basis of existing Chinese National Laboratory of Modern Technology
in Urban Panning and Design affiliated to and administrated by the College
of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, under the leadership
of Dean Bo-Wei Wang (Liaison/coordinator of this partner).
The main research objective of the National lab is the application of modern
information technology (IT) in urban planning and architectural design. The
lab is well equipped with modern IT technologies and devices, including computer
networks, SGI workstations, Virtual Reality experiment platform, and high
precision digital image and video stream encoding system, etc.
In order to better support the Generative Design research, additional equipment
has been purchased for the Lab, including the latest Pentium IV desktop computer.
Activity 5: Ph.D. and Master Research Programs
The generative design research programs in the College of Architecture and
Urban Planning of Tongji University will consist of a multidisciplinary team.
The participating disciplines include: campus planning, urban design, historical
architecture preservation, urban housing, interior design, Chinese traditional
furniture design, and computer system simulation.
The initial program team consists of the following six groups:
Group1, led by Professor Bo-Wei Wang, and joint by Master candidates Xiang
Wang, Hong Wu, Le-Yan Zhang, will emphasis on the inherited generation mechanisms
of university campuses and similar type of architectural complexes;
Group 2, Master candidate Meng Wang, guided by the advisor Professor Ji-wei
Lu, will emphasis on the inherited generation mechanisms of urban public spaces;
Group 3, Ph.D. candidates Yi-Jie Zhang and Ming Dai joint by Master candidate
Cheng-yu Sun, under the guidance of Professor Yong-yi Lu, will emphasis on
the inherited generation mechanisms in Chinese historical architecture preservation;
Group 4, Master candidate Xing-Yu Yang, guided by the advisor Associate
Professor Zhen-yu Li, will emphasis on the inherited generation mechanisms
of various urban housing;
Group 5, Master candidate Xi Xu and Zhao-Xi Liu, guided by their advisors
Associate Professor Yi Chen and Lecturer Kai-fend Wang, will emphasis on the
inherited generation mechanisms of Chinese traditional and ancient furniture
design;
Group 6, Ph.D. candidate Xiao-Sheng Huang and Master candidate Yao-dong
Zhang, guided by their advisors Professor Jing-Wen Gu and Lecturer Jie Wu,
will pursue research of computer implementation of shape and body representation
governed by various generation mechanisms.
Among the six groups, Senior Engineer Mr. Zhong Tang, Associate Director
of the Lab, will be responsible for the coordination of the groups in the
project. Besides research in the generation mechanisms of Chinese ancient
towers, he will also be experimenting with the 3-D digital representation
of generated objects using virtual reality techniques.
Mr. Xiang Wang, a member of the Group 1, is also responsible for information
assembling and distributing of the whole project at Tongji University.
Activity 4: Workshop
The College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University
has planned to host a generative design workshop session in Shanghai in the
time frame of September to October of 2003.
The proposed design topic of the workshop is the Architectural Design
for The International Expo 2010 to be held in Shanghai.
9/03 – 10/03: Hosting Shanghai Workshop.
Activity 8: International Networking
The Tongji University team plan to send a delegation to Europe for
research information and notes exchange with European participating partners
and larger communities in the time frame of July to August. The delegation
will consists of a part of the research participants of Tongji University
who has achieved certain preliminary results in their corresponding area of
work.
Tianjin University
Activity 1: Establishing Generative Design Lab
The Generative Design Lab in Tianjin University will be established based
in the existing Architectural Design and Planning Research Institute of Tianjin
University headed by the director Professor Chang-Ming Yang (Liaison/coordinator
of this partner).
Leveraging the existing institute ad researchers’ previous research interests
and strength, the Generative Design Lab of Tianjin University, as one of the
Chinese partner universities, will have one of its unique research direction
set to the application of generative design concept and theory into the investigation
and comparative study of archetypes and architectures of Chinese minority
ethnic groups.
In order to sustain the Generative Design Lab and relevant research activities,
the Architectural Design and Planning Research Institute of Tianjin University
is actively applying for addition funding from Chinese government through
programs of Ministry of Education.
Activity 5: Ph.D. and Master Research Programs
The first Ph.D. and Master level graduate research program in generative
design at Tianjin University will be primarily be largely directed towards
the general topic of “The
Generative Mechanism of Chinese Nomads Architecture and Its Interpretation
in Cultural Anthropology”.
The research program has identified a combined participating team of five
members of faculty and research staff, and, initially, six graduate students.
The team consists of:
§ Prof. Chang-Ming Yang, Professor, Architecture
§ Prof. Hua Zhang, Staff Researcher, Architecture
§ Prof. Fan-Wei Zhang, Staff Researcher, Architecture
§ Prof. Jie Cai, Associate Professor, Architecture
§ Jun Ren, Lecturer, Architecture
§ Xi-Xin Chen, Ph.D. candidate, Arcitecture
§ Lin Tian, Ph.D. candidate, Ancient Architecture
Preservation
§ Jing Bai, Ph.D. candidate, Architecture
§ Li-Jun Zheng, Ph.D. candidate, Architecture
§ Jin-Song Zhao, Ph.D. candidate, Architecture
§ Li Yan, Ph.D. candidate, Architecture
§ Xiao-Bing Wang, Master candidate, Architecture
As one of the first individual Ph.D. research topic, Mr. Li Yan has identified
the subject of “The Research of Contemporary Architectural Generative Rule”
and will be conducting his investigation under the guidance of his advisor
Prof. Chang-Ming Yang. His dissertation is planned to complete in 2004.
Activity 4: Workshop
The Tianjin University partner is preparing to host the workshop in
Tianjin. The specific details of the design topic for the workshop is being
discussed and to be announced soon.
Activity 8: International Networking
The Tianjin University partner is expecting to expand its international
networking in the area of Generative Design through this project and its European
partners. The Tianjin University’s project participating team is planning
have its representative delegation to visit European partner universities
while attending the Summer Courses on their campus according to the project
schedule.
III. Other Issues
The only difficulty encountered is the actual sanitary emergence in China.
The travel of the coordinator to Shanghai and Tianjin, and the subsequent
meetings and lectures planned for the beginning of May, must be postponed
and re-scheduled.