International Design Workshop 2013, February 26th to March 1st, 2013
The Master of Arts in Design at the Zurich University of the Arts hosts every year an interdisciplinary design workshop and proposes to 1st and 3rd semester students an exchange of ideas, methods and visions related to design, arts and theory, with professionals and lecturers from different backgrounds.
This year’s topic is ‘Mapping the city – design strategies in the urban space’.
Due to political, economic and socio-demographic transformations in the last decades, cities (urban centres) have become increasingly the focus of our present time. The rapid development of the urban change has put a severe test on the innovation and strategic capacity of mankind.
The starting point for new design approaches demands a systematic understanding of a city and its society. There are several scientific and artistic methods to investigate and evaluate its development. However, the effective use of these methods depends on a creative system of understanding changes and an explorative mapping of pertinent ideas. Based on the expertise of six invited guests and their distinctive approaches, we intend to promote a critical and creative notion of the city;
investigate unexpected aspects,
analyse and reflect existing phenomena,
elaborate unusual scenarios,
invent exceptional products, interactions and media,
illustrate, draw and generate views of the city,
create new representation formats and proposea thought-provoking speech.
Based on the curriculum of the Master of Arts in Design study, we will explore and discuss the
following topics:
What possibilities and potential are there in approaching the city from a designer’s perspective?
Which design solutions can be evoked by a certain way of surveying the city?
How may creative strategies and new technologies improve the relation to the urban space?
How can the knowledge be implemented and displayed for a better understanding?
For further information: karin.zindel@zhdk.ch – Research Assistant