"Integrate humanity and critical thinking into the ecological cross-disciplinary cooperation of species, technology and nature, to promote design innovation. "

Institute of Science & Creation

Institute of Science & Creation explores the catalysis of the intersection of design with biology, psychology and anthropology, based on the impact of emerging technologies on human and nature. The teaching content is the ecological concept of symbiosis between human and nature, the technology and craft of enhancing dimensions creation, the critical design thinking and the perceptual method of the essence of Chinese culture.

Program Successes

It forms innovative features of humanity and speculation, time and ecology, material and body, behaviour and emotion in the four imagination domains of nature, culture, production and perception. Based on tangible objects and real scenes, our research target is to invent new materials, new species and new ecology through the practical path of material innovation, embodied cognition, product design and reconstruction of daily life.

In the evolution of the organic learning-working community, we are cultivating:

- The design consciousness of the emerging frontier.

- The creative potential of creation and invention.

- The research ability of learning and evolution.

- The new vision of understanding the future.

- The insights into the global design.

Germinate Design

Ecological thinking provides a new perspective to the research on the conscious and active consideration in terms of the complex relationship between human beings and nature. Seeking a method of endow products humanistic, germinated, advanced and scientific life, to face a new machine ecology that humans can't cope with time.

Following the biological principle, structure, property, behaviour and system, programmable material and alternative rapid prototyping technology are integrating light, heat, sound, magnetism material design. To invent the combination with a time dimension, turn it into the methods and practices of sustainable innovation.

By asking questions, criticism and reflection on the influence of nature, society and ethical issue, we stimulate student's enthusiasm for learning and ability to perception. We put forward a proposition of the material generation and establish a predictive framework of the future world. We hope that we can harvest proposals for sustainable manufacturing and material ecology, reconstructed the future trend of the ecology of human beings and species, society and nature.

How do we work: Organic Co-learning Union

The faculty groups with different backgrounds provide a toolkit within design thinking, humanistic aesthetics, traditional Chinese painting method, biological observation, parametric design and digital manufacturing. We encourage students to explore the different disciplines and advocate interdisciplinary cooperation.

We nurture each student's potential, working freely in the studio on topics they like, evolving and learning to improve themselves in response to changing ideas. Students integrate into an active social environment while learning independently, and work in an open, diversified and organic cycle mode.

With the characteristics of an organism, aim to create a learning community and build a thinking ecology, faculties and students provide conditions for talents to be pioneering and innovating, and evolve into an Organic Co-learning Union.

Why do we need biological thinking: Nature Lights The Way

When the unexpected comes true, when the whole human system goes wrong, we are instantly suspicious of all human-centred delusions and the sense of superiority we engendered. We consciously examine and actively consider the complex relationship between human beings and nature, and take the co-evolution and harmonious development of human beings and the natural ecological environment as our value orientation.

With the insight of the problem evolution, from single problem solving to division iterative problem solving, it is better to find a feasible scheme. In this program, we speculate how to make a real, individual and active observation, from how to collect first-hand data, sort out data, take data as the research of design, to deduce a design project.

Following the biological principle, structure, property, behaviour and system, we envision new and growing designs, materials, products and buildings that can form a metabolic cycle of birth, growth, perception, adaptation, healing, repair and decay, just like all life in nature.

How do we understand technology: From Fabrication to Mothering

In the curriculum, Biotechnology, InformationTechnology, CognitiveScience, CRISPR, and other cutting-edge technology as a foundation for the understanding of the design to carry out, and the technology course in the project is seen as a means of education, rather than the goal of education, we adopt the technology is optional and can be iterative.

Our view of design is transformed from machine to organism, breaking the tradition of the material forming process and structure assembly, from manufacturing to pregnancy - from inorganic to organic - from assembly to growth, forming creation innovation in the dimension of time. We are constantly thinking about what is truly sustainable, trying to propose design creations that transcend the sense.

To break the traditional material moulding process and assembly of the traditional structure, beyond form, function, modernization and productivity, encourage the students thinking about the divergence between art, design and commercial production.

Course Units

1.Biological Observation

Guide students to learn by introducing basic biological observation methods, such as animal, plant, cell observation and microbial observation, etc. Learn to observe the world from the perspective of biology, to explore the symbiotic relationship between human, nature and future trends.

2. Material and Ecology

Through an introduction to the case of ancient material technology and skills, to guide students to think about the ecological material and the ecosystem of the material, from biological analysis, resource economics, environment energy, sustainable design strategies, introduced the development of materials and future trend of new materials, for the further discussion and innovation.

3. Parametric Design

Through the understanding of the evolution of different dimensions, as well as of typology and topology, we will familiarize students with Rhinoceros and Grasshopper software and computational design tools to create their own projects throughout the modules of the course.

4.Digital Fabrication

Learn from nature and explore biological principles, structures, materials, behaviours and systems into design methods, with a special focus on additive manufacturing design. Through biological observation, we simulate the logical rule for the growth of organizational structure and reconstruct the modules.

5. Alternative Future

Through the intersection of biological perception & observation, parametric design, digital fabrication, additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, we are practising speculative and experimental learning methods to develop a biological design perspective, trying to look for a preferable and alternative future.

Composition of Teaching Faculty:

Product Designers, Architects, Materials Engineers, Biologists, Anthropologist, Painters, Data Analysts, Programming Engineers.

Project Name List:

NO.1 The immortality of deadwood

NO.2 What if the space is resilient?

NO.3 How to deposit an oasis?

NO.4 We are body hair advocates

NO.5 The age of artificial plants

NO.6 Seven ways to think like a selaginella

NO.7 Is decay our destiny?

NO.8 Hilbert human forest

NO.9 Who has the power to be luminous?

Learning and Teaching Methods:

Program launch and briefs

Lectures

Workshops and Lab working

Tutorials

Field Studies

Technical Demonstrations

Making and prototyping

Discussions and critiques

Group Critique

Self-assessment

Presentations

Design Report