Learn to create innovative, sustainable design solutions for the benefit of the planet and all living things!
- Gain knowledge of sustainable design criteria, processes, practices and materials;
- Learn to research and analyze information;
- Generate innovative ideas;
- Build quantitative and qualitative skill-sets;
- Learn to design to reduce impact on the planet while meeting the needs of all living things;
- Build your sustainable design portfolio and prepare a proposal package;
- Join a network of sustainable design professionals.
Using an inter-disciplinary and collaborative approach, Pratt’s Sustainable Design Certificate program covers sustainable design processes, practices, and materials to address real-world challenges, while highly encouraging research and innovation. The program is based on whole systems thinking, engaging the design process with nature’s processes and designs in the context of societal systems.
Hands-on practice combined with lectures, workshops and research, where students develop creative problem-solving skills to design challenges. Integration with the sustainable design communities at Pratt provides students and alumni rich networking opportunities. Students have access to Pratt’s cutting edge sustainable design resources. The program is for all those engaged in the design industry, design education, or related professions, who seek to enhance their knowledge and skillset in sustainable design.
Students may have the opportunity to have their work displayed on our School’s web gallery or blog DesignTerra, at the teachers’ discretion.
The Certificate Program can be completed in two semesters and you can start the program in the fall, spring, or summer with the pre-requisite Sustainable Design Foundation course offered every term. The Spring and Summer terms offer equivalent course offerings--the Summer offerings are accelerated as Intensives.
Please also see our related, independent Inclusive Design course at the bottom of this page.
Certificate Requirements
This certificate program requires the successful completion of 144 hours of study, corresponding to five core courses.
Core Courses
FALL —ONLINE
XCSI 318 Sustainable Design Foundation – Waivable upon portfolio approval
XCSI 319 Sustainable Design Processes & Materials
XCSI 320 Sustainable Design Theory & Practice
SPRING —LOCATION TBD
XCSI 318 Sustainable Design Foundation – Waivable upon portfolio approval
XCSI 309 Biomimicry
XCSI 340 BioDesign Lab
SUMMER—ONLINE
XSI 324 Sustainable Design Foundation Intensive (equivalent to the XCSI 318 Sustainable Design Foundation Course) – Waivable upon portfolio approval
XSI 309 Biomimicry Intensive (equivalent to the XCSI 309 Biomimicry Course)
XSI 336 BioDesign Lab Intensive (equivalent to the XCSI- 340 BioDesign Lab course
Core Courses — ONLINE
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FOUNDATION
XCSI-318
OR
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FOUNDATION INTENSIVE
XSI-324
Study the basic principles of sustainable design thinking, design vocabulary, and composition. Advance through a series of exercises that test and question sustainable strategies, practicing the expression of ideas not only through spoken and written words, but also through drawing and other forms of visual communication. The course combines historically-based lectures with open discussion, project-based studio/lab time, critique of student work, and includes a basic introduction to preparing presentations and portfolios. This course is an introduction to sustainable design for learners with or without prior design experience.
Note: This course is waivable upon portfolio approval by faculty. Students with experience in sustainable design are encouraged to please submit a digital portfolio (4-7 pieces) to prostudy@pratt.edu by 10 business days prior to the class start dates of the certificate courses below. Those with experience only in sustainability, or only in design, are also welcome to submit portfolios to give instructors a better idea of the student's level of experience, although this may not qualify to waive the course
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FOUNDATION
XCSI-318
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FOUNDATION INTENSIVE
XSI-324
SUSTAINABLE PROCESSES AND MATERIALS
XCSI-319
From concept creation to final implementation, the decisions that designers make during the design phase contribute to the majority of the environmental and social impact of a product or system. Learning to incorporate sustainable practices at concept inception is a competitive advantage and encourages smart design. Explore, map and illustrate the journey from raw or recycled material through processing, manufacturing, transportation/ distribution, use, re-use, and disposal, using examples of design across scales. Learn about tools and strategies that designers can use to reduce the impact of their designs on the environment.
Prerequisite: XCSI-318 Sustainable Design Foundation or XSI-324 Sustainable Design Foundation Intensive—waivable upon portfolio approval.
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN THEORY & PRACTICE
XCSI-320
Designers have a unique opportunity to shape the ways in which we interact with our environment and each other. Imagine and build a more sustainable future for all by addressing challenges facing our ecosystems and communities as design problems. Exploring tools and strategies for sustainable design across disciplines, and building upon the lessons from previous sustainability courses, develop your own unique design proposals in the form of drawings and models to incorporate in a professional design portfolio.
Prerequisite: XCSI-318 Sustainable Design Foundation or XSI-324 Sustainable Design Foundation Intensive—waivable upon portfolio approval.
BIOMIMICRY
XCSI-309
OR
BIOMIMICRY INTENSIVE
XSI-309
Generate innovative ideas and forms that perform and give back to the planet and its inhabitants responsibly in space. Based on the Biomimicry Institute’s 3.8 guidelines, explore all three levels of the biomimicry design process. Learn sustainability principles and practices such as life cycle assessment; discover nature’s time-tested design strategies, functions, and patterns to apply them to human-made designs. Using a holistic approach, learn to integrate biomimicry into your creative process and demonstrate its value to stakeholders.
Prerequisite: XCSI-318 Sustainable Design Foundation or XSI-324 Sustainable Design Foundation Intensive—waivable upon portfolio approval.
BIOMIMICRY
XCSI-309
BIOMIMICRY INTENSIVE
XSI-309
bioDESIGN lab
XCSI-340
OR
BIODESIGN LAB INTENSIVE
XSI- 336
As fields are merging in search of more sustainable and resilient solutions, biodesign is emerging at this transdisciplinary intersection of biology, technology and design. In this hands-on studio course, explore, research and develop bio-inspired design solutions, putting into practice biomimicry thinking, sustainable systems-based methods and designing for and with biomaterials. Create and present your project with outcomes that include designing systems for human services and interventions, developing new biofabrication processes for materials and/or products, and advancing innovations in circular economies. Final projects will be reviewed by a panel of experts and enable students to build their portfolio.
Prerequisite: XCSI-318 Sustainable Design Foundation or XSI-324 Sustainable Design Foundation Intensive—waivable upon portfolio approval.
BIODESIGN LAB
XCSI-340
BIODESIGN LAB INTENSIVE
XCSI-336
Independent, Related Course
INCLUSIVE DESIGN
XCSI-344
Learn how inclusive design, allied with equity and diversity, is an essential art and design approach for understanding our sense of place in the world and appreciating that of others, globally and locally. Inclusive Design integrates and activates our sense of community, which emerges through artistic communication as an obligation and a gift. Research artists, designers and artist collectives, for their tactics and strategies to inspire your own inclusive design, and learn how artistic aesthetics can visually flourish with your embrace of different peoples, cultures and traditions. Investigate various materials, including what you have around your immediate dwelling to inventory and catalogue, with the intention to repurpose materials for communicating with others who you are and where you come from, as well as to learn to innovate in ways that are culturally sensitive for your diverse clients. This inclusive approach to agency, to thinking and making, will strengthen your bonds artistically in community, and nest you in the larger context of environmental sustainability.
Registration
Registration is open.
Registration Deadline: Five business days before each class starts.
Note: To request that the XCSI-318 Sustainable Design Foundation or XSI-324 Sustainable Design Foundation Intensive pre-requisite course be waived by faculty, please submit digital portfolio (4-7 pieces) to prostudy@pratt.edu by 10 business days prior to the class start date of the certificate course(s) of interest to you.
Early registration is encouraged. After the deadlines, students may still be admitted only if space remains in the selected course or program.
Non-native English speakers should have a command of the English language that is necessary for success in classes taught in English.
More questions or concerns? Contact prostudy@pratt.edu