A Thousand Years of Iteration: Design for an Uncertain Future
ARST 221
Spring 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
IDEA 221, ENVS 227 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Integrated Design, Engineering & Applied Science Minor |
The climate emergency is a product of design. Centuries worth of aesthetic and industrial innovation have created extractive infrastructure, efficient machines, and disposable products that make it increasingly easy to consume energy and resources on a global scale. As new conversations about just transitions, a circular economy, and a Green New Deal have begun to proliferate among designers, the discipline's troubled relationship to notions of "progress" remains largely unquestioned.
This reading- and research-intensive studio asks students to examine this history of technology and to critically evaluate shifting theoretical perspectives on nature and human development as they relate to design. Topics will include the lifespan of buildings and products, relationships with and obligations to materials and resources, and strategies for de-growth in indigenous and vernacular design precedents. These will be studied through assigned readings and in-class discussion, a series of design exercises, and the production of a final project from materials immediately at hand in Middletown. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART |
| Course Format: Studio | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ARST)(ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(IDEA-MN)(IDEA)(IDEA-OD) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
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