Designing Green Futures

Description

“We are in the midst of a great turning and it is an auspicious time to be alive,” says writer John Malkin. All over the world, attitudes toward the earth and its resources are changing; new means of stewardship are arising, new ways of doing business and of building and shaping environments. This program is for students who want to get informed, and to rethink, re-envision, and reinvent how we use resources, build, and make a living in ways that are ethical, sustainable and beautiful. It sets the stage for winter and spring programs in sustainable building and business by providing an overview of key ideas and movements in sustainability, and by introducing students to Design as a thinking, innovating, and communicating process that can bridge disciplines, including architecture, community design, environmental technologies, and entrepreneurship.

Program work will center on studio-based projects involving documentation, drawing and modeling of environments and ideas, as well as research, calculation, writing, and various modes of presentation. Workshops and lectures, along with readings and seminars, will address knowledge and skills from Design (graphic means of expression and idea generation, modeling, sources of form), Business (systems thinking, entrepreneurship), Sustainable Technologies (environmental flows, building systems, energy), and Community Studies (assessment and allocation of resources, public dialogue and decision making). We will emphasize individual preparation and collaborative effort in the work, seeking opportunities and commonalities of approach between disciplines. Typical projects might include a consideration of solar access and how it could shape building form and zoning regulations; the possible distribution of vehicle recharge stations in a community and the resultant small business opportunities; the production, marketing and distribution of emergency shelters; a marketing plan for toys that promote awareness of natural cycles and flows; resource efficient packaging design; architectural interventions to humanize public spaces; or the design of graphics to effectively explain green ideas.

Dedicated students will leave this fall quarter program with solid preparation for more focused studies in designing green futures. They will gain a broader understanding of current approaches to sustainability; new and emerging environmental technologies and the basic science behind them; green entrepreneurship; and design as a creative linking and envisioning process. They will build skills to develop and communicate their ideas verbally, visually, and quantitatively, and cultivate the awareness needed to create more sustaining and sustainable ways of living, building, and working in a greening world.