Hua Chai

Position/Title: Associate Professor

Address: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University

Email: chaihua@tongji.edu.cn 

Research Fields

Computational Design, Robotic Fabrication, Timber Structure, Integrated Design and Construction

Research Profile

Hua Chai is an Associate Professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University. He is a Committee Member of the Computational Design Academic Committee of the Architectural Society of China, a Committee Member of DigitalFUTURES, as well as the Managing Editor of Architectural Intelligence journal. He completed his PhD in 2022, jointly supervised by Tongji University and the University of Stuttgart, where he was a Guest Researcher at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) in 2020.

He has long been engaged in research on the computational design and robotic construction of innovative timber structures. His work has been supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of China, and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation. He has also contributed to international collaborative projects, including a Sino-Belgian intergovernmental initiative and a Sino-German Science Center cooperation project. His findings have been published in leading journals such as Automation in Construction and presented at prestigious conferences including ACADIA, Rob|Arch, and Fabricate. He has received the Young CAADRIA Award from the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia and the DigitalFUTURES Young Award. He is also an awardee of talent programs, including the China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents and the Shanghai Super Postdoctoral Incentive Plan.

Courses

Architectural Design III (International Class Program)

Thematic Design Studio IV (Master's Course)

Digital-Intelligent Spatial Design (II): Multimodal Spatial Construction (Digital-Intelligent Spatial Design Experimental Program)

Construction Robotics (Doctoral Course) 

Selected Publications

[1]. Chai, H., Wagner, H. J., Guo, Z., Qi, Y., Menges, A., & Yuan, P. F. (2022). Computational design and on-site mobile robotic construction of an adaptive reinforcement beam network for cross-laminated timber slab panels. Automation in Construction, 142, 104536.

[2]. Chai, H., So, C., & Yuan, P. F. (2021). Manufacturing double-curved glulam with robotic band saw cutting technique. Automation in Construction, 124, 103571.

[3]. Chai, H., Zhou, X., Gao, X., Yang, Q., Zhou, Y., & Yuan, P. F. (2024). Integrated workflow for cooperative robotic fabrication of natural tree fork structures. Automation in Construction, 165, 105524.

[4]. Chai, H., Guo, Z., & Yuan, P. F. (2021). Developing a mold-free approach for complex glulam production with the assist of computer vision technologies. Automation in Construction, 127, 103710.

[5]. Chai, H., Orozco, L., Kannenberg, F., Siriwardena, L., Schwinn, T., Liu, H., ... & Yuan, P. F. (2024). Agent-Based Principal Strips Modeling for Freeform Surfaces in Architecture. Nexus Network Journal, 26(2), 369-396.

[6]. Chai, H., & Yuan, P. F. (2023). Hybrid intelligence. Architectural Intelligence, 2(1), 11.

[7]. Chai, H., Zhang, L., & Yuan, P. F. (2020). Advanced timber construction platform multi-robot system for timber structure design and prefabrication. In Architectural Intelligence: Selected Papers from the 1st International Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication (CDRF 2019) (pp. 129-144). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

[8]. Chai, H., & Yuan, P. F. (2018). Investigations on potentials of robotic band-saw cutting in complex wood structures. In Robotic fabrication in architecture, art and design (pp. 256-269). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

[9]. Chai, H., Guo, Z., Wagner, H. J., Stark, T., Menges, A., & Yuan, P. F. (2022). In-situ robotic fabrication of spatial glulam structures. Proceedings of the 27th CAADRIA Conference, 41-50.

[10]. Chai, H., Marino, D., So, C. P., & Yuan, P. F. (2019). Design for mass customization robotic realization of a timber tower with interlocking joints. Proceedings of the 39th ACADIA, 41-50.

Grants

Youth Program (C), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Principle

Sub-project under the National Key R&D Program of China, Principle

The 72nd General Funding Grant, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Principle

China–Belgium Intergovernmental Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Project, National Key R&D Program of China, Participant

Sino-German Center International Cooperation Project, Participant

Awards 

Young CAADRIA Award, 2015

DigitalFUTURES Young Award, 2022

China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents Program, 2022

Shanghai Super Postdoctoral Incentive Plan, 2022