The design project "Fuzziness & Isomorphism" by students Xu Sirui and Zhang Wenshuo from Tianjin University has been awarded the second prize in the Tianjin region of the "Milan Design Week - Excellent Works Exhibition of Chinese University Design Disciplines." The project was supervised by Associate Professor Wei Na from Tianjin University.

The inspiration behind the project "Fuzziness & Isomorphism" comes from the historical and cultural heritage of Beijing. Beijing City is a culmination of cultural products from different eras, with traces scattered throughout the city in the form of historical relics and contemporary constructions. Traditional architecture and modern industrial buildings in Beijing are particularly significant, as they bear witness to the city's historical changes. However, in contemporary society, these historical traces are overshadowed and concealed by ubiquitous steel, glass curtain walls, and concrete, hiding at the periphery of urban life. Therefore, the project aims to integrate the formal language of traditional and industrial architecture in Beijing and depict the facade structures of industrial buildings using visual elements from traditional architecture. Through the fuzzy and isomorphic recombination of traditional vocabulary, the project creates images with strong regional memories and characteristics, offering a new interpretation of these linguistic elements present in Beijing's history. Ultimately, it serves as a paradigm that incorporates various traditional vocabularies into the lexicon, infusing urban historical vocabularies in Beijing and throughout the country with a new, unique, and regionally identifiable vitality.

This project was completed within the framework of the Advanced Architectural Design series course (TJU-AADx) at Tianjin University. TJU-AADx is a collaborative series course initiated in the summer of 2022 by Tianjin University in cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania. It is co-taught by Ali Rahim, a tenured professor of architecture at the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, and Wei Na, an associate professor at the School of Architecture, Tianjin University. TJU-AADx combines artificial intelligence technology with architectural design, integrating Chinese cultural characteristics and the teaching traditions of Tianjin University's School of Architecture. The course focuses on deepening the training of facade formal language and spatial form language, exploring innovative practices in facade system design through digital technology and new materials, investigating the application of complex digitization and assembly methods in architectural design, the integration of digital technology and Chinese architectural culture, and the development of Chinese architectural culture and design methodology in the new era. The course emphasizes the influence of innovation on culture, technology, and aesthetics, aiming to promote the intelligence, efficiency, and precision of architectural design. Furthermore, the TJU-AADx series course explores a new mode of transnational cooperation in teaching, providing Tianjin University students with a digitally-oriented architectural design course at an international level, as well as opportunities for cross-cultural learning and education, offering different perspectives and feedback for architectural education and driving the development of the architectural design field both domestically and internationally. The project "Fuzziness & Isomorphism" reflects Xu Sirui and Zhang Wenshuo's understanding of the modern translation of historical and cultural architectural language, showcasing the innovative spirit and abilities of Tianjin University students.