University of Bolzano will bring together four of the world's leading
authorities on design and cognition, to give a five day school of lectures
on this subject. In addition, there will be a concluding lecture by Daniel
Libeskind, one of the world's most famous architects. Bolzano is in the
Italian Alps, and the school is located in the heart of the old medieval
quarter of Bolzano. The school will include trips into the magnificent
mountain scenery of the Dolomites.
Speakers:
(1) John Gero
John Gero is Professor of Design Science and Co-Director of the Key Centre
of Design Computing and Cognition, Department of Architectural and Design
Science, at the University of Sydney. He is the author or editor of 30
books and over 400 papers in the fields of design science, artificial
intelligence, optimization and computer-aided design. He has been a
Visiting Professor of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Mechanical
Engineering, or Computer Science at UC-Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia and CMU in
the USA, at Strathclyde and Loughborough in the UK, at INSA-Lyon in France
and at EPFL-Lausanne in Switzerland. His former doctoral students are
professors in the USA, UK, Australia, Singapore and Korea. He has been the
recipient of many excellence awards including the Harkness, two Fulbrights,
two SRC Fellowships and various named chairs. He is on the editorial boards
of numerous journals related to computer-aided design, artificial
intelligence and knowledge engineering and is the chair of the
international conference series Artificial Intelligence in Design.
(2) Michael Leyton
Michael Leyton is on the faculty in the Center for Discrete Mathematics and
Theoretical Computer Science at Rutgers. His mathematical work on shape has
been used in over 20 disciplines from chemical engineering to radiology.
His scientific contributions have received several prizes, such as a
presidential award, and a medal for scientific achievement. His paintings,
sculptures, and architectural projects, have been featured in international
design journals and invited exhibitions. The scores of his string quartets
are currently being published. Leyton's books "Symmetry, Causality, Mind"
(MIT Press) and "A Generative Theory of Shape" (Springer-Verlag) elaborate
a new theory of geometry which argues that geometry is the means of
recording history; i.e., that geometry is equivalent to memory storage.
Related to this, he argues that art works are maximal memory stores. This
is supported with lengthy studies of art-works as well as the design
process itself. Leyton is president of the International Society for
Mathematical and Computational Aesthetics.
(3) Michael J. Pratt
Michael Pratt has been Professor of Computer Aided Engineering and Head of
the Department of Applied Computing and Mathematics at Cranfield University
in the UK. He has held a senior research positions at the US National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute. His research interests include all aspects of product modelling
in mechanical engineering, and especially the use of geometry in the
integration of computer aided design (CAD). He is actively involved in the
development of the international standard ISO 10303 (STEP) for the exchange
of product data; in this context he leads the ISO TC184/SC4 Parametrics
Group. Pratt has an MA in physics from Oxford University, an MSc in
aeronautical science and a PhD in mechanical engineering from Cranfield. He
has published numerous papers and book contributions on CAD and related
topics, and is on the editorial boards of the journals Computer Aided
Geometric Design, Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence and
International Journal of Shape Modelling.
(4) Gerhard Schmitt
Gerhard Schmitt is Professor of Architecture and Computer Aided
Architectural Design (CAAD) at the Department of Architecture of the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich. His research focuses on the
development of intelligent design support systems and the architectural
design of the information territory. Since April, 1998, he is Vice
President for Planning and Logistics of ETH Zürich. His most recent books
are Architektur mit dem Computer (Vieweg, 1996), a publication on physical,
virtual and information architecture, Architectura et Machina (Vieweg,
1993) and Information Architecture (Testo & Immagine) describing the
rapidly growing relations between architecture and the machine. In 1996, he
completed a two-year term as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at ETH
Zurich. From 1984-88 he was on the Faculty of Architecture at Carnegie
Mellon University. He holds a Dr.-Ing. degree from the Technical University
of Munich and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of
California at Berkeley.
Concluding lecture by Daniel Libeskind on Friday, 6th, at 7 pm
Libeskind was born in Poland, and initially trained as a musician in
Israel. After having obtained USA citizenship, he studied architecture at
New York, then specialized at Essex University (UK) to become an
internationally known architect. The New Architecture's paradigm embedded
in Libeskind's projects places itself on the basis of fractal geometry in
the complexity of non-linear dynamics. Among his most famous work there is
the Jewish Berlin Museum (1989-1998). His works are published in most
relevant journals, and in volumes. See, for example, Daniel Libeskind,
Counterdesign, London, Academy Editions 1992, and Radix: Matrix: works and
writings of Daniel Libeskind, Munich, Prestel Verlag 1994.
For further information:
http://www.mitteleuropafoundation.it/BISCA/general_information.htm