Engagement by Design

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 further questions of
engagement and materiality, we will trace strains
of contemporary design and architecture that
re-evaluate and re-shape our notions of use and
necessity. Looking to the edges of architectural,
graphic, industrial and product design discourse,
Activating Engagement explores the social
dimensions of the world of objects, with special
attention to furniture, mobile architecture,
temporary structures, consumer products and
landscape, interface and information design.