Integrated Construction
Teaching Note from China Academy of Art
Instructor: Dongyuan Liu
Integrated Construction is a cross disciplinary course built on collaboration. Design is used as the link between the humanities and intelligent manufacturing, aiming to keep a dynamic balance between the two. The course understands design through a view of making, and focuses on an art and technology mindset. It encourages students to explore different ways of making and the deeper meaning of products, so that theoretical knowledge can be turned into creative ability through practice.
Reference: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lxbhfDo6K4DxQYv6vowBSw
Course Structure
The course follows a clear process with four stages.
- • Concept understanding
- • Practice exploration
- • Integrated creation
- • Evaluation and reflection
These stages match four teaching blocks. The first block is theory learning. The second block focuses on breaking down and rebuilding basic units and elements. The third block is integrated design practice. The last block is competition and exhibition, where students present their work and reflect on the full process.
As the field continues to change, the course keeps updating its content by connecting humanities, mechanical construction, and topics such as artificial intelligence. This makes it an international and future oriented course with strong cross discipline value, and it supports the training needs of students from different backgrounds.
Approach and Key Focus
The course highlights the connection between modern information technology and integrated product construction. It aims to link traditional making with intelligent manufacturing, and it can also be seen as a teaching evolution toward digital sensing of external events.
The course is developed with an interdisciplinary goal. It uses a matrix like structure to bring knowledge from different fields into one learning system. In content, the course starts from basic computer programming. Based on existing knowledge of mechanical transmission and structures, it builds an internal link to programming. It also strengthens students' understanding of the relationship between physical and virtual systems. Another key focus is the coordination between structure and form, so students can improve logical thinking and gain a more complete understanding of digital products.
Course Goals
Product design is a process of making. It is not only about form. Students need a clear understanding of the object, the building method, and the purpose. In this course, students analyze product structures and design structures, and they build models by hand. Through this process, they learn what making means, why we make, and how different making methods work. The course aims to help students develop an inside out way of thinking, and to examine product design from a global view.
My Role in the Course
Dongyuan Liu served as an instructor in the course. His teaching focused on building the bridge between construction and basic programming, and helping students understand how mechanisms, rules, and systems connect across physical and digital domains. Through discussions and feedback at different stages, he also supported students during integrated practice and final presentation, guiding them to turn concepts into workable construction systems with clear expression.
Student Projects
Reflection
This course shows that construction is not only a set of skills. It is an ability to organize structure, method, and purpose across different media. When making is understood as building relationships within a system, design becomes more than a final result. It becomes a process of testing, adjusting, and creating through integration.