Office of Academic Links (China)
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Project Report of Interflow Program between
Hong Kong and Mainland Higher Education Institutions
Recipient: Serdar Aydin, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Parametric Urban Design Generation Using Genetic Algorithm
The motive of this project is to collaborate in the area of `computational design and form finding' while both
architecture schools at the Tsinghua University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong have similar schemes
to enhance research materials and curriculum in this area. The project specialises on the `parametric urban
design generation’.
Failing with the adaptation to the changing conditions of education that is more and more digital, architecture
education has to deal with this problem by sharing the experience that every school faces in teaching
technological advancements. With the inclusion of parametric architecture in the architectural pedagogy,
architecture schools have to change their curriculum that has been oriented on hand-drawings and manual
work-force for over a half century. Searching the best way to deliver digital design methods to students,
internationally renowned schools encourage students to take part in relative workshops or organise them to
enhance their learning environment in this area. The Parametric Design Workshop 2014 organised by the
Tsinghua Architecture Summer School (2014 年清华大学建筑学院 – 参数化非线性建筑设计研习班) served
for this purpose. Being a part of the Interflow Program, the workshop was held under the supervision of six
tutors and their assistants. One of the six workshop groups, Grasshopper, software designed for architects, is
taught by Prof Huang Weixin with Serdar Aydin in his assistance. Students who had almost no prior knowledge
of parametric design were trained to use the software. Finally they were able to help in producing a
parametrically designed canopy via the techniques that are special to Grasshopper. The workshop results
showed that collaborating and sharing knowledge and experience on such events that aim at developing a
digital curriculum novel to the present pedagogy have significant impacts on teaching as well as research in
parametric design.
The collaboration on parametric design continued with an urban design work for a small town of an
approximately 20,000 inhabitants in the south of China. Urban planners have recently realised their inability to
plan flexibly enough for the changing conditions that come from the nature of urbanisation. As requested by
the Urban Planning Academy of China that is responsible for the development of the mentioned town, Prof
Huang was asked to develop a parametric design that is able to deal with the dynamic plan decision clashes
with its flexible solution. With a team of three architects that includes Serdar Aydin, Prof Huang developed a
design program based on circle-packing logic. The design displayed relative parties the strength of parametric
design tools in coping with urban design issues.
The awarded researchers of the program, namely Prof Huang (Tsinghua University), Prof Schnabel and Mr
Aydin (Chinese University of Hong Kong) visited parametrically designed modern architectures in Beijing and
organised cultural trips to historical sections of Beijing like Hutongs, The Great Wall as well as to Ping Yao that
exhibits the best preserved Chinese old-town architecture. Architecture offices that implement parametric
design methods in Beijing are visited.
Eventually, two abstract submissions were made for two international conferences, CAADRIA 2015 and
CAADfutures 2015. With the collaboration between the Hong Kong and Mainland researchers, it is aimed at
contributing to the development of the parametric design education at both schools. And we believe that
these conferences will prompt new opportunities for more collaboration.