On 9 November 2024, professors Annalisa Dominoni, Flora Gaetani and Nicola Crea, from Politecnico’s Department of Design, partecipated to the second edition of the “International Design Education Forum” in Chongqing.  

The theme of this edition was “New patterns, new ideas, new forms” and 3 different panels were held:

1. Silk Road University Alliance Annual Conference
2. Transport Culture and Art Design
3. International Design Talent Cultivation

Annalisa Dominoni gave a lecture titled “Space Design: Architecture & Equipment for Interplanetary Missions”. She presented the experience of the Master’s program in Space Design, “Space4InspirACTion”, which she co-founded at Politecnico in 2017. The course aims to create new professional profiles capable of managing the complexities of space while fostering creativity and vision. It benefits from a unique partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), which is essential for developing feasible projects and enabling knowledge transfer.

Flora Gaetani presentation was titled “Autofficina Futuro, an interactive vision of where mobility is going”. In 2022, as part of the exhibition Motion, Autos, Art, Architecture organized by the Norman Foster Foundation in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, sixteen schools of design and architecture from four continents were invited to share their visions for the future of mobility. The School of Design at Politecnico di Milano, the only Italian school involved, contributed with an interactive installation in the Future Gallery. This project recalled the concept of the “carrozzeria” (auto body shop), an iconic example of “Made in Italy” craftsmanship where, in the early 20th century, cars were repaired, improved and modified in dialogue with the customer.

Nicola Crea presented “Insights about Optimization of Design Educational Process”, an analysis of the impact of how technological and sociological changes impact the role of design and the need to adapt design education accordingly. He envisioned potential changes in the near future, focusing on three main aspects:

1. the most appropriate timing for learning in student growing process,
2. the modes of progressive involvement and integration of industry into the learning schedule,
3. a glimpse of the possible impact of massive use of AI in the discipline.  

The 3 professors, who were already in China teaching at the Joint School, had also the occasion to explore Chongqing, a city that became part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities of Design in 2023.gqing, città che dal 2023 è entrata a far parte delle “Creative Cities of Design” dell’UNESCO.