Can design help shape a community? These students definitely think so. In April, a batch of students from the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering worked closely with members of Delft’s Gilles District to come up with a design for street furniture that encourages social interaction.
Share
The winning project, De Avondmarkt, was designed by Irish exchange student David Mooney along with Dutch student Lennaert Kempers. The idea was host an evening market with lights in changing colours, to create a festive atmosphere. People would bring home-cooked specialities and exchange them with each other. “We worked with students of psychology to understand human need and how to create an atmosphere that would create an atmosphere of light-hearted interaction,” explains Mooney. Gilles has a large immigrant population and local companies and municipalities are keen on concept that fosters community spirit.
The annual competition, called The Wise Owl, is the culmination of a ten week course called Social Cohesion Design. Introduced as an elective in IDE in 2010, the course is designed to bridge the gap between society and science, or in this case, design.
“Today, most designers are interested in social cohesion. Especially in an age of disconnect like ours. With social media and virtual interaction, it is important for design to address the need for human interaction,” explains Clemens de Lange, the course coordinator. “During the course students are introduced to 3-i Methodology where designers start with identifying elements in the community to be included in the future street furniture systems. They do not design ‘bare’ isolated technology but Community Integrated Product Systems,” he explains. Besides face-to-face interaction with local members of the community, students also interact with anthropologists and people from other fields of study during their preparation.
Since 2012, students have been working on projects with local communities in Delft. The impact of the course is not purely academic. Several companies in Delft have already offered to pay up to 50% of the investment needed to realise the winnings CIPS that emerge from this course. A design from 2013, Vonk Lighting, has already been picked up for one of the neighbourhoods.
Cultural anthropologists and local municipality member Alice Hendricks was one of the jury members for the 2014 projects. “Several designs focussed on safety rather than social interaction. In diverse communities an atmosphere of friendship and togetherness can create more safety, but safety does not necessarily translate to interaction. It is important to think about such things when working on technology and designs,” she says.
Despite the broad appeal of the course, it is currently only offered at a bachelor’s level. De Lange says he conducted a survey all across the department of Industrial Design Engineering in December and a number of MSc students were eager to sign up. “It’s a pity that it’s not offered at an MSc level because this is a very relevant course today,” he says.
De Lange says TU’s IDE department, the psychology department of the University of Leiden and the Sociology department from Utrecht are interested in starting an international design course that implements and measures social cohesion design impact in a neighbourhood from 2014-2018. “Delft could be an example city for other districts in Holland and elsewhere,” he adds.
Comments are closed.