NY Times article: Architect Roald Gunderson utilizes small-diameter trees that he bends himself for building. This method increases strength, and the small trees continue to sequester carbon.

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View videos from the conference here. The Better Conference was hosted by Princeton's Student Design Agency, gathering students and professionals to discuss visual communication's role in social and environmental change.

A somewhat-recent article in the New York times: Designing Through a Depression, highlights the need for design to be relevant to our situation, particularly in times when excess is increasingly irrelevant.

There's a mention of Architecture for Humanity's Classroom Challenge to design the school of the future, The Strida Bicycle, that makes cycling a more accessible alternative to car transportation, electron stimulated lightbulbs that are as efficient as CFLs yet pleasing to the eye, and even batteries powered by genetically engineered viruses.

Lecture: Green by Design

Thursday, April 23, 2009 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
RISD MICHAEL P. METCALF AUDITORIUM

David Orr discusses sustainability in design, followed by a showing of RISD student work that speaks to environmental issues in aesthetic practice. Sponsored by Respond|Design.

I invite everyone to Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, April 11 for an event called What We Do.

What We Do is a new student-run event modeled after TED designed to showcase the many inspiring things happening at Rhode Island School of Design of interest to the surrounding community. On Saturday, April 11, in six designated locations across RISD’s campus in Providence, Rhode Island, 72 students, faculty, staff and alumni will have 20 minutes each to share about something they do. Topics ranges from educational theory, professional and student work, and creating community through art and design to staging zombie attacks, Rhode Island and RISD history, designing medical robots, the art of four square, and a talk about RISD with President John Maeda.

Each space will host 12 back-to-back presentations scheduled throughout the day, and every presentation will be recorded and published on whatwedo.risd.edu so that communities beyond RISD and Providence can see what we do and learn, share and be inspired along with us. The day’s events will conclude with a concert on Benefit Street (between Waterman and College streets) featuring Last Good Tooth, Tallahassee and Good Old War.

What I Do: Dani Cox from Aaron Perry-Zucker on Vimeo.

The entire event is free and open to the public. More information and addresses for the six locations can be found at http://whatwedo.risd.edu along with inspirational videos filmed and produced by RISD students.

Download full schedule.

Graphic design had a terrific show last night, there was popcorn and a "CMYK" cake.

Taproom at RISD 10.30 – 12.30, refreshments.

Combined Class Seminar – Materials and Social Justice

Open to faculty & students

Charlie Cannon, “Matter Practices” class (grad studies), together with Chris Rose and Peter Dean, Sustainable Design Research Elective (furniture)

Together with guests – open to interested students and faculty, representatives from respond-design and ‘what we do’

Materials Scientist Dr. Caroline Baillie of Queens University Ontario will present the Buenos-Aires based ‘Waste-For-Life’ project as an example of material-mediated social action, putting this in a larger context of material culture and the issues posed to society.

Caroline Baillie has authored many scientific papers on materials science, particularly composites, works with performance and integrated approaches to social empowerment as well as being an international leading figure in her field. Baillie and Chris Rose (Interim Dean of Graduate Studies) have collaborated on several multi-discipline projects bringing designers, artists, engineers and scientists together in order to get straight to key issues of our time and empower creative and knowledge-based work connected to materials and design.

This is a one-off opportunity for this year at RISD to join a presentation and discussion that may provide future working links or networking opportunities in this emerging area of work.

Waste for Life

About the RISD Circus on the TED Fellows Blog

RISD's Graphic Design department is holding its senior show this Thursday, March 12th in the Woods Gerry Gallery (Corner of Prospect and Meeting Streets).

The opening reception will be held from 6:00-7:30.

Free beer, refreshments, and great work will be on view!

The Brown Entrepreneurship Program recently brought Kiva Founder Matt Flannery to campus for it's EP Forum. Check out the full presentation here.

"The RISD CIRCUS" - What kind of an event or an organization could boldly and confidently related education with fun? Well, the dean graduate studies department at the Rhode Island School of design, Chris Rose hosted an interesting meeting that brought together faculty and students from across the academic departments to take part in an active discussion about the future of learning in the school.

RISD is a traditional school, where a lot emphasis is put on the fundamentals of the our craft in art and design. The biggest challenges the school faces is to make these crafts more relevant to the student's future, and how do we provide a holistic college education by better incorporating liberal arts classes. Perhaps "the way to be innovative in education may be to exovate,'" as Chris Rose started our conversation.

We have to begin to challenge the role of the student and the teacher, especially at the college level, where it is common for students and faculty to exchange ideas. Changing our titles and re-evaluating our roles could better reflect us as learners and advisers. This could be a way to break the mold and encourage conversation that otherwise will not happen. This model of shared learning and teaching will allow students to gain authority and help bring new ideas to the table.

Creativity cannot be taught, but it wouldn't just happen, so what should we do as educators? An interesting point brought up by Chris Rose is that "instead, we can mange the circumstances for creativity." This creates an unique opportunity for endless possibility to innovate
and learn. Some of the ideas that was spawned out of this notion is; to have students learn through witnessing an "intellectual argument", where they eavesdrop on the conversation and come to their own conclusions; and to use unconventional, even guerrilla tactics, to lure students out of their departments to engage in cross-disciplinary conversations.

Chris Rose explaining his ideas for teaching and learning

It is great to have these conversations but the real dilemma is how can we do up against the established framework and implement these radical ideas. We have a tangible plan, where we have broken up our task to small, medium and large scale; small task that can be implemented now, medium task that can be implemented within the year and large task as our ultimate goal.

An implementable goal is to create a more interdisciplinary
environment where different classes would intersect at various points in the semester through a symposium where the classes would be informed and influenced by each other's work. A successful experiment called the "recess" that could be reproduced was conducted on campus last year successfully brought people together where students were encourage to interact through games.

Our ultimate goal is not to simply change our education system now, but to create a framework in which we are able to constantly challenge and change our teaching and learning methods to best prepare the students of the future.