Engagement by Design: the Social Turn

ENGAGEMENT BY DESIGN:
The social turn in architecture and design


This class will investigate recent and
contemporary design that puts social and political
questions at the center of its practice. Moving
beyond the Modernist maxim "form = function" to
take up questions of decolonization, engagement
and materiality, we will trace strains of
contemporary design and architecture that
re-evaluate and re-shape our notions of use and
necessity, particularly in relation to the
struggles for gender, disability and racial
justice. Looking to the edges of architectural,
graphic, industrial and product design discourse,
Engagement by Design explores the social
dimensions of the world of objects, with special
attention to furniture, mobile architecture,
temporary structures, consumer products, and
interface and information design.