AIMS

The aim of this project is to: deliver the latest results and products of advanced IT applications in creative building design practice and methodology; gain input from the mutual knowledge exchange between European and Chinese architectural design traditions and current developments; enhance the skills and mobility of academic personnel; contribute to the basis of Europe-China economic co-operation in the field of design and intelligence of building construction. The target groups are the academic teaching people and postgraduate students in the field of Architectural-Urban design and Industrial design. The involved universities are the Politecnico di Milano University, Italy, University of Kassel, Germany, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, Tongji University of Shanghai, China, and Tianjin University of Tianjin, China. The main activities are: activation of design/teaching labs for postgraduate and teaching people, summer courses, common research thesis at Ph.D. and Masters’ level, exhibitions and lectures to Chinese design communities and construction industry, international conferences. The duration of the project is 24 months, with programs self-sustaining further beyond.

OBJECTIVES

Aligned with the overall objective of the Asia-Link Program, this project promotes multilateral networking of architecture and design education staff and advanced academic personnel in Europe and China, specifically, 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. The project is designed to develop and enhance Europe-China co-operation, first of all among the participating universities to foster and promote mutual awareness and understanding especially in the area of technology and methodology of generative approaches in creative building design, and subsequently among multiple regional building design communities and the building construction industries through further spreading of the influences and practical results of the co-operation among the universities. More specifically, the main objective of this project is to:

A. Upgrade and enhance the skills and mobility of teaching and research staff and postgraduate students of the participating universities, particularly in the field of architectural and industrial design, through
(1) collaborative teaching in design studios and other instructional courses of each participating university,
(2) periodical seminars in Europe and China (with audio and video delivery to all participating partners),
(3) workshops of special design project focuses in China and Europe, and
(4) creation of joint research groups with specific themes among habitat identity and quality, industrial design and intelligent production, and teaching methodology for evolutionary architecture, housing and industrial design;

B. Promote 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;

C. Promote 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 5 years, and further enlarging the base structure of the network for future developments and co-operations;

D. Enhance 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; E. Raise the awareness of mutual opportunities in the design and construction sectors and create opportunities of future extended co-operations for mutual economic benefits by introducing the most advanced technologies of intelligent design and industrial production and managing of the habitat evolution developed in Europe to Chinese universities and regional industry.
The project is expected to achieve the following multilaterally beneficial outcomes:
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. 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. 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. Diffusion and expansion of the technology of intelligent industrial production in the fields of building and industrial design, where the technology is based on breakthrough advancement in design automation characterised by designer-centred, man-machine interactive and automatic reprogramming systems that are able to manage numerically controlled manufacturing industrial machines that is one of the main export of Europe, and particularly of Italy;
5. Establishment of equalised European-Chinese mutual opportunities for human resources of the design teaching institutions of the participating universities and, furthermore, of the professional design communities in the continuously growing construction industry and emerging intelligent industrial production manufacturing industry.
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