The School of Design offers projects that engage in both theory and practice, asking questions such as how can we use scent to talk about climate change? How can we solve challenges in the wearability of hardware for NASA? And even, how can branding ethically reflect the large percentage of products that a handful of corporations own?
Inspired by my father's immigrant journey to America after escaping the Vietnam War at 14 years old, A Vietnam Bias is a five-look pre-spring collection. This semester-long design collection was made utilizing my own old denim jeans from high school, which were repurposed by redyeing and rebleaching to create a new, abstract wash. My collection also showcases the use of NoSo technology to create a new fabric with reused denim that results in a contemporary silhouette, minimizing seams and machine stitching. An in-depth case study of the Antiguo Palacio as a pioneering example of a historic government building being renovated for the future. Big Dumb Objects: Deconstructed and Reconstructed seeks to understand why some human constructs strike viewers as sci-fi-esque objects and what commonalities they share with big dumb objects (BDO). Biomaterials for Design explores the characteristics of various bioplastics and their potential application within design. A collaboration between science and design, we created a spectrum of bioplastics with varying qualities of strength, flexibility, and durability and used them to create products ranging from bioplastic bags to light fixtures. The goal is to create new materials for manufacturing products that are non-petroleum based and completely biodegradable at the end of their intended use. Biomimicry is a collection of visual presentations and student design proposals containing biomimicry design theory and strategies. Students submitted work to the 2019 Global Design Challenge, sponsored by the Biomimicry Institute. The students pictured submitted “Tomato's Home,” which focused on design strategies to reduce waste in the post-harvest stage of tomatoes, particularly in Nigeria. An examination into whether today's children are losing an ability to generate their own antidotes to boredom, and instead are growing more dependent on external sources of increasingly digital and ubiquitous forms of entertainment. Cohort of the “Smart” is an attempt to investigate the promises of the techno-evolution and how deep the cohort of the 'smart' has infiltrated human systems. Fashion and Identity: Representation, Self- Esteem and the Muslim-American Narrative is a workshop series designed to explore the direct correlation between awareness, agency, and perception of dress and self-esteem established with ownership of one's authentic narrative. Flex VR is a virtual reality application to help aging patients reach their rehab goals by making repetitive movements more pleasurable, entertaining, and creative. NYC Fairy: Cruise in Conflict is a campaign to raise awareness of public transit equity and provide a clearer picture of the government's unreasonable subsidization of the NYC Ferry. Forests pre-logging smelled different from today's forests, and that smell is ever-changing as forest succession and climate change march on. This research uses essential oils from fragrant plant species to map forest succession in Prospect Park, Brooklyn—from old-growth to current and future scenarios. Performance Architecture represents over fifteen years of investigating connections between performance art and architecture. By occupying these built works, we discover the roles built space plays in constructing subjectivity and social relationships. Social Practice Kitchen is a mobile kitchen, designed to be a site of interdisciplinary investigation across the School of Design. The system of the contemporary society is heavily based on the consummative style of living, especially in highly developed cities like New York. Symbiosis seeks to address how urban consumerism, which has almost always been in the direction of exploitation of the environment, be replaced with a better system of living through accomplishing the opposite: to live and work in symbiosis with nature, adapting a mutualistic relationship between us and the environment. Currently, 10 multinational corporations own 90 percent of all brands we find in supermarkets. What if this was reflected in the consumer's shopping experience? Coming into direct contact with the human body, chairs are one step away from fashion — arms, legs, back, seat — as we enter the era of mass individualization our bodies will be scanned and component parts printed on demand! We Are Both, We Are All: The Influence of Cultural Fusion on Design probes the intricate nature of cultural tension and the complex exchanges when cultures fuse.Read More
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