 |
|
Educating the Citizen Designer
What if schools took the high road and pulled together all design
understanding--for the benefit of society?
By Susan S. Szenasy, Editor In Chief
August/September 2003
If interior designers and architects continue to engage in their ongoing
turf war, the rest of the world will pass them by. This thought was voiced,
often and in many ways, at a discussion on a recent Sunday. We were a small
group of interior design and architecture educators, plus one editor, called
to the University of Cincinnati by Hank Hildebrandt, associate director
for undergraduate studies in architecture and interior design at the College
of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). Hank asked us to discuss
the often heated relationship between the two professions, what this legacy
of conflict is passing on to our future space/place makers and form-givers,
and where the possible escape routes from this quagmire might be located.
He prodded us with questions like: What is it that interior designers do
better than architects? Should the next generation learn to be interior
architects rather than interior designers? Are interior designers trying
to grab architecture's sex appeal, just as "information architects"
are doing?
While such queries proliferated throughout that day, one throwaway comment
captured it all for me. Someone mentioned that among the interior design
and architecture firms bidding for a recent corporate job, there was
an unexpected entrant, a major accounting firm. The accountants sold
themselves on the merits of their financial analysis, plus their ability
to put teams together, and sure, they would hire interior designers and
architects. Did the world just pass by the design professions, again, in
favor of more easily understood skills? The accountants seem to be winning.
The night before our discussion we were treated to the university's 52nd
Annual Fashion Show and Honors Night. As the models (professional and student)
strutted their newly stitched finery on the catwalk, it became clear
that ornament, decoration, craft, color, historic reference, and high technology
were alive and coexisting in this corner of the world. But as we later ambled
through the exhibits of architecture and interior design projects, we rarely
spotted this expansive and exuberant sensibility. Excellent computer renditions
stressed the sleek and the corporate modern--great portfolio fodder, acceptable
and on-demand design skills showcased attractively. And it all made me wonder
if the fashion students ever ran into the architects and interior designers
on the wide and meandering staircase that Peter Eisenman designed to knit
DAAP together.
I realized then that architectural gestures serve their purpose only if
they're supported by human gestures, in this case the willingness of the
faculty and students to learn from each other's differences and use their
newfound understandings to create inventive environments and objects. What
if design schools set out to educate responsible citizens? I wondered the
next day as my plane idled on the Cincinnati tarmac. What if fledgling
designers of every discipline were given more time in school and given the
same solid foundation of humanities and sciences, in addition to an understanding
of structure, materials, ergonomics, space, and technology? Armed with these
fundamentals, students could choose to be technicians, colorists, decorators,
interior designers, architects, product or communications designers, or
even invent their own focus, each and every one an essential contributor
to a complex society. Why quibble over titles when there's so much to learn
and so much to do? |
|
|
BACK TO TOP;MM_showHideLayers('navdepts','','hide')){kind=small}
;MM_showHideLayers('navfeats','','hide')){kind=small}
;MM_showHideLayers('navcolumns','','hide')){kind=small}
