the council partners with tsinghua university to establish design education laboratory

02.02.2024 Announcements

Are educational institutions that teach design ready to confront the challenges of the future? The Council announces the inauguration of the International Design Education Laboratory, providing students and educators opportunities to experiment and delve into the social, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges anticipated by 2050.

With the next generation of designers tasked to navigate and practice in an increasingly complex world, design schools must strive to give their students the tools to make a difference. Often, current design practices and teachings are mired by outdated consumption and market models, myopic perspectives of design history and adherence to short-term corporate priorities. Alternatively, the Laboratory sees designing and design history as the history of human beings, universal, and in the service of the greater good for humanity. The International Council of Design firmly believes that at this critical point in time, as we all face a climate crisis due to continued and irrational consumption, amidst increasing social tensions – even as advances in technology promise greater benefits for all – good design offers a better future.

The distinctive challenges anticipated in the approaching decades until 2050, encompassing the climate transition, technological advancements, demographic shifts, and innovations in materials and industrial processes, present an intriguing realm of possibilities for designers to envision and construct new futures.

"The Council has long maintained the position that designers bear a great responsibility to the societies they live in to produce work that is not only effective and exciting, but also socially equitable, accessible, culturally significant, and sustainable," stated Council President 2022-2024, Ting Xu. "The distinctive challenges anticipated in the approaching decades until 2050, encompassing the climate transition, technological advancements, demographic shifts, and innovations in materials and industrial processes, present an intriguing realm of possibilities for designers to envision and construct new futures. With participants from some of the world’s top design schools, the TASA-ICoD International Design Education Laboratory will provide a new generation of designers with a unique avenue for innovative design exploration."

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

In partnership with ICoD Member Tsinghua University, the project will take place on the newly inaugurated Qingdao campus. We are proud to partner with this renowned institution. Established in 1911, Tsinghua is consistently ranked among the very best universities in the world by the most respected international university rankings. With 14 schools and 56 departments with faculties in science, engineering, humanities, law, medicine, history, philosophy, economics, management, education and art, the University will contribute not only its high-quality facilities but the academic body of knowledge that will set the context for the project. Internationally, Tsinghua University has established itself as a vital institution for fostering talent and engaging in scientific research. The inclusion of the Laboratory will unquestionably amplify these capabilities

The Qingdao campus of Tsinghua, the 'Tsinghua (Qingdao)Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research' (TASA) (image: TASA)

Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research, TASA, was established to promote research in areas supporting the integration of arts and science. The campus has a building area of over 127,000 square meters over 14 separate buildings. TASA is intended to create a future-proof platform for innovation incubation and innovation research that facilitates interdisciplinary connections by bringing into full play the resources of Tsinghua University and the regional and industrial advantages of the city of Qingdao. 

TASA boasts state-of-the-art facilities and workshops, including metal and wood workshops, a 3D printing laboratory and an advanced manufacturing and prototyping lab (image: TASA)

THE DESIGN EDUCATION LABORATORY

According to an agreement signed between the Council and Tsinghua University on 02 February 2024, the TASA-ICoD International Design Education Laboratory, or EduLab, was established to generate rich exchanges between educational institutions. The Laboratory will be headed by two Co-Directors, Mr Chao Zhao (ICoD Vice President and Associate Dean of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University) and Mr David Grossman (two-time ICoD Former President). Working from the principle that a new approach is required – professionally and academically – to serve the future better, the EduLab intends to develop new approaches to designing through collaboration between international and Chinese design students and lecturers, working in teams, to address alternative “2050 scenarios” – one based on a continuation of current consumption models, and another based on a more responsible approach to designing and more rational concepts of consumption. 

The first ICoD-TASA International Design Education Laboratory Summer Session will take place between 21 July and 24 August 2024. Six invited international design schools and six invited Chinese design schools will each send a delegation consisting of eight advanced industrial design students and one lecturer to participate in the 2024 Summer Session. To promote collaboration and exchange, students will work in four-person teams (two international students and two Chinese students) under the direction of a team of instructors.

Projects will juxtapose the results of a future scenario based on a continuation of current consumption and cultural behaviour against those in a drastically improved future scenario. The resulting designs will not only vividly illustrate the critical choices facing us today, but will also effectively demonstrate the potency of design.

The 24 teams will work on design briefs reflecting the two alternative 2050 Scenarios developed in advance by the multidisciplinary International Academic Advisory Committee, composed of international and Chinese academics and experts. The committee will define the parameters of the 2050 scenarios. 12 projects will reflect a future scenario based on a continuation of current consumption and cultural behaviour, while 12 other projects will reflect a future scenario based on an immediate diversion to a more optimal pathway of consumption, production and social evolution. The resulting designs will not only vividly illustrate the critical choices facing us today, but will also effectively demonstrate the potency of design.

The resulting projects will be the initial components of an ever-growing permanent exhibition at the TASA campus. The results of the summer session will also be presented at the first TASA-ICoD International Conference on Evolving Design Education Curricula scheduled to take place at the TASA campus in October 2024.

TASA's 'Achievement Exhibition Center' has 5,000 square meters of exhibition area, the results of the ICoD-TASA International Design Education Laboratory Summer Session will be shown here (image: TASA)

To pursue its mission to increase the recognition of the value of design, to elevate the global standards of all design disciplines, and to improve the situation of individual designers everywhere, the Council partners with leading design organisations and institutions. This project will add to the Member-led programmes the Council supports and cultivates. For more information on this or other programmes, please contact ICoD General Manager, Marnie Guglielmi-Vitullo at office@theicod.org.