OUTLINE: Sustainable Design I - Foundation Course

I. Importance of design

a. To the individual and the planet (economic, social, and environmental issues)
i. Design carries serious legal, ethical, and social responsibility (equiv. to Hippocratic Oath for physicians)
ii. Design impacts patterns of consumption (energy, materials, and water)
iii. Design impacts behavior
iv. Design creates the potential for being an agent for change
v. Critical time in human history (three bump theory – Sci Amer 1960 Deavey)
vi. Design is the essence of being human. It is basic and integral to human activity and behavior.

II. A definition of design

a. Design involves aesthetics and function
b. Student develop an agreed upon basis for design criteria and evaluation
c. Design must be reality based
i. Desired results measurable at all scales
ii. There must be a feedback mechanism (between people and their environment)
iii. “Phenomenology”(* see above) is one example of feedback and environmental awareness (“checking in”)
iv. Understanding of where design comes from (reinforcement for creative, exploratory processes)

III. Tools, Skills, and Processes

a. Analysis and synthesis are linked
i. When separated, learning feels disconnected
ii. Content from analysis must be carried into design (e.g., historical precedent studies)
iii. Evaluation should be included in the creativity loop (design-evaluate-design-evaluate-etc) and learn how to evaluate own work through evaluation of the work of others.
b. Process as important as product especially in the development and presentation of design
i. Awareness of natural processes synch with site and building design
ii. Team and individual work emphasized
iii. Presentation includes process work, not just final product
iv. Cycles of complexity, always present and ever increasing concurrent with student development
v. Teach students to assess their own work (checking in on self-knowledge)
1. analytic
2. aesthetic
vi. Teach students to explore the question “where do design ideas come from?” (e.g., nature) and how to where to “start design”
vii. Help students to develop self-confidence with design
1. Help them learn to trust their informed intuition
2. Acknowledge own reality as well as that of others
3. Cultivate environmental awareness

IV. Design vocabulary building

i. Communicates to self and others in multiple forms:
1. Symbolic/iconographic terms
2. Verbal/oral
3. Literal/written
4. Visual/hand and computer graphics
ii. Clear identification and articulation of issues and underlying assumptions
iii. Expand depth and breadth through communication
iv. Unlike traditional “basic design” that is based on reductionism, sustainable design works towards putting things together instead of taking them apart.
v. Learn to differentiate cliché/superficial from tour-de-force/aesthetic in design concept/parti development.