Interior designers are more than home decorators. In fact, they are more like architects and engineers that the general lay person might assume. Students from one interior design program challenged this common misconception by designing concepts and models for a project meant to provide temporary and inexpensive homes for those displaced by natural disasters and other temporary homelessness.
As reported by a local newspaper, when the students in this class displayed their work it became apparent that interior design is about solving problems – no matter the complexity:
(Isthmus) May 4th, 2012 A little house made almost entirely out of corrugated cardboard sheets and tubing is currently on display in the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s lobby as a part of the museum’s bi-annual Design MMOCA contest, in which artists of various fields are asked to use a piece in the museum’s permanent collection as inspiration for an original work of art.
Using the painting Abstraction, Belief, Desire by Pat Steir as creative catalyst, the structure was designed in five weeks by UW-Madison’s Interior Design I students. Entitled “Disaster Relief Shelter Project,” the work is both an art installation as well as a prototype living space for people affected and dislocated by natural disasters.
The project was conceived by UW-Madison faculty associate Lesley Sager and her interest in the works of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, as well as the concept of “Design Thinking” in which designers investigate problems and devise solutions by working creatively within the context of a particular field. Requiring the acquisition of knowledge as well as the ability to creatively posit solutions for real-world dilemmas, Sager thought the endeavor would be a challenging and meaningful collaborative experience for her beginning interior design students.
Choosing the topic of temporary homelessness, Sager split her class of 21 into seven groups of three and asked each to conceive a living space made out of recyclable….Read more from Isthmus.
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