Category Archives: Environmental Design

Survey: Art Center ranks No. 1 for industrial design

Art Center’s industrial design graduate and undergraduate programs have ranked No. 1 by the Design Futures Council in its DesignIntelligence survey of America’s best architecture and design schools.

Additionally, DesignIntelligence named Integrated Studies instructor Randall Wilson among the 30 Most Admired Educators for 2013.

Art Center’s undergraduate industrial design programs — which include Product Design, Environmental Design, Transportation Design and Entertainment Design — were praised for teaching students communication, computer applications and design.

Deans and department heads surveyed said they most admired Art Center’s Graduate Industrial Design program, “For its forward-looking focus on the role of design in business and research.”

Art Center’s industrial design undergraduate program has ranked No. 1 in the survey since 2006, while the graduate program has ranked in the top three during the same time.

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Goodwill and Art Center embrace the upcycle lifestyle

Art Center students, faculty and representatives from Goodwill of Orange County. Photo: Chuck Spangler

Last term, more than a dozen Art Center students in Goodwill: Upcycle Lifestyle—a transdisciplinary Designmatters studio led by the Environmental Design department—spent their summer redesigning the spatial experience for Goodwill of Orange County’s retail stores, with an eye towards social responsibility, environmental awareness and making a positive impact on the community.

The students’ challenge was two-fold:

First, they were assigned to use recycled materials—wood, computer parts, textiles and more, all of which were found in Goodwill’s stores, recycling, salvage and processing areas—to create a visual and tactile experience for shoppers that reflects Goodwill’s reuse and repurpose model. Hence, the name of the course: Upcycle Lifestyle.

Second, the students were tasked with leveraging Goodwill’s community-strengthening programs. Beyond offering guilt-free shopping opportunities (and bargains!) to consumers, the non-profit organization’s stores and donation sites also serve as training grounds to provide supportive work experience and on-the-job training.

Throughout the three-month project, the students gained experience in re-branding, upcycling, budgeting, repurposing, practical design applications and a deeper appreciation of Goodwill’s mission services.

Following multiple visits to Orange County Goodwill stores, the students split into five separate teams, developed concept drawings and materials studies, which culminated in a final in which they presented design boards, models, mock-ups and full-scale constructs to representatives from Goodwill.

How did they do? Visit the project’s page on the Designmatters website to find out.

Related:
Designmatters’ Safe Agua Peru wins Tech Award
WATCH: Art Center President Lorne Buchman talks conscious design
Designmatters Students Create Furniture for India’s Low Income Housing Residents

Bringing It All Back Home: Designmatters Students Create Furniture for India’s Low-Income Housing Residents

"Living Home: India" Designmatters students, faculty and staff in Bangalore, India last summer.

"Living Home: India" Designmatters students, faculty and staff in Bangalore, India last summer.

Last term, students in Living Home: India—a transdisciplinary Designmatters studio led by the Environmental Design department—spent their summer investigating the living needs of low-income housing dwellers in India, and then building furniture prototypes for use in the type of high quality, low-cost housing championed by Ashoka, a social entrepreneurship nonprofit and partner for the studio.

Due to the reduced scale and high occupancy rate of the housing units, the students were tasked with creating reduced scale and transformable prototypes. They also needed to make sure the furniture they designed was environmentally responsible and could be developed in collaboration with community stakeholders and local craftspeople in India.

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Innovative design in India topic at Live Talks

President Lorne Buchman, left, and Trustee and Idealab CEO Bill Gross at Live Talks

Art Center College of Design President Lorne Buchman and Idealab CEO and Art Center Trustee Bill Gross bonded over socially conscious design in India Thursday morning at Live Talks Business Forums, a one-hour conversation focused on innovation and design held in downtown Los Angeles.

Through WorldHaus, longtime entrepreneur Gross has ventured into creating eco-friendly, modular housing in more rural parts of India starting at $2,000. Buchman highlighted furniture created by a Designmatters student that features creative seating with storage for low-income city-dwellers in Bangalore.

“We have to go make a deal with that student and start that right away!” said Gross.

WorldHaus has the goal of adding 200 homes in India this year and increasing that number to 1 million houses by decade’s end. The for-profit company manufactures the structures for $1,800 and owners pay $200 down and $10 a month.

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Meet Environmental Design alumna Zorine Pooladian

Designer Zorine Pooladian ENVL '12.

Sometimes finding your true calling can feel like flipping on a light switch. Just ask designer Zorine Pooladian ENVL ’12.

The Environmental Design alum was first turned on to the world of lighting design in an Art Center at Night (ACN) course; these days she’s working on a lighting project she plans to unveil at New York Design Week next year.

We sat down recently with Pooladian to ask her about her ACN experience, and here’s what she told us:

“I have always loved art and architecture. I grew up in a 300-year-old house in Iran that had high ceilings and walls covered in paintings. As a child, I remember being amazed that somebody could leave something behind that would last for centuries.” Continue reading →

Summer 2012 Graduation Events

The creative energy around campus is kicking into high gear as the College prepares for its series of Summer graduation events.

Thursday, August 16
If you’re lucky enough to be on the invite list for Graduation Show Preview, you’ll get a sneak peak at the work of the next generation of artists and designers. Held from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at Hillside Campus, the preview gives potential employers, alumni, donors and industry professionals an opportunity to preview the Graduation Show and meet our graduating students.

Immediately following the preview, all guests are invited to a reception hosted by Alumni Relations to welcome our graduating students into the alumni family.

Saturday, August 18
Join us at Hillside Campus from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. as we celebrate the accomplishments of our newest graduating class and present the Art Center Student Leadership Award to Product Design student Jenn Kuca.

We will also be presenting the Great Teacher Award to: Product Design instructor Pascual Wawoe (New Teacher); Environmental Design and Humanities and Design Sciences instructors Penny Herscovitch and Dan Gottlieb (Part-Time Faculty); and Illustration and Entertainment Design instructor Will Weston (Full-Time Faculty), who will also deliver the graduating class commencement address.

Can’t join us for the graduation ceremony? Watch our live online webcast.

After the ceremony, Graduation Show opens to the public from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. so everyone can enjoy the work of our newest Art Center graduates.

Let the celebration of our creative community begin!

Phas running shoes, designed by graduating Product Design student Jenn Kuca.

Art Center Top Winner of Awards from Industrial Designers Society of America

Art Center College of Design won the most awards of any college in the prestigious 2012 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA®). Design teams are celebrating across campus today as the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) unveiled the winners of the program—a celebration of design excellence in products, sustainability, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts.

Balde e Balde

IDSA will reveal the Best in Show, Curator’s Choice, People’s Choice and the Sustainability Award at the IDEA ceremony on Aug. 18 at its 2012 International Conference in Boston.

GiraDora

Students won three Gold, two Silver, and three Bronze awards in the annual competition. Congratulations to all the students, faculty, staff, and administrators who were involved in these projects.

DIGIFI

Gold Winners

  • Mike Kim, Product, DIGIFI: Audionauts project
  • Kim Chow, Designmatters, Product, Environmental Design, Balde a Balde: Safe Agua project
  • Alex Cabunoc & Ji A You, Designmatters, Product, Environmental Design, GiraDora: Safe Agua Washer and Spin Dryer

Silver Winners

  • Geoff Ledford, Product, Traverse Ski Patrol Rescue Toboggan
  • Leonardo Ochoa, Product, ALLAYANT – A shirt with built-in back support for paramedics

Bronze Winners

  • Derrick Tan, Product, Link Collapsible Recurve Archery Bow and Prosthetic
  • Siddharth Vanchinathan, Hugo Giralt Echevarria, Philip Keller, Jan Lienhard, John Badalamenti, Nicholas Fusso and Heather Hoopes, Grad ID, KPCC Growth Strategy
  • Andrew Kim, Product, Pal IV Pump System

Finalists

  • James Cha, Product, Syncro – Post-surgical knee rehabilitation device
  • Lindsay Nevard, Product, Nutriflex Flexible Infant Nutrition System
  • Chelsea Ji Hong Park, Product, Blind Spot laundry kit for the visually impaired
  • Joel McDavitt, Product, Airia Rescue Backboard
  • Jonas Crister Kristiansson, Grad ID, A Place For My Stuff
  • Seth Weissman & Viirj Kan, Designmatters, Product, Environmental Design, Caja Del Tesoro: Safe Agua
  • Kim Chow & Carlos Vides, Designmatters, Product, Environmental Design, Soap Buddy: Safe Agua
  • Mariana Prieto & Alexandra Yee, Designmatters, Product, Environmental Design, Clean & Smart.

Art Center on Scene at Dwell on Design

Art Center was an official partner of the West Coast’s largest design event, Dwell on Design, which boasted three days of the best and brightest products, services and thought leaders in modern design. Dwell on Design was held last weekend at the L.A. Convention Center.

As the only educational institution named a Silver Sponsor, Art Center made a significant impact during the event. The College occupied 1,000 square feet of exhibition space showing representative student and alumni work in Product and Environmental Design; led a series of creative design activities on the show floor; and showcased student, faculty and alumni presentations on three separate stages at the event.

Here are some images from the show.

David Mocarski, Jenn Kuca, Cora Neil and Mariana Amatullo talking about Designing for Social Impact

Art Center's booth at Dwell

Learning about Designmatters' Safe Agua Project

David Mocarski discussing Art Center's Environmental Design programs

The Product Design display

Art Center's activity space on the showroom floor

Thought Leaders Gather at Art Center to Discuss Design for Social Impact

As part of Design Week 2012, Art Center and Dwell Magazine will jointly host a dialogue on how innovative design can influence social change. The event will begin with a keynote address by John Peterson, Founder and President of Public Architecture. A panel discussion, moderated by Michael Sylvester, Managing Director, Dwell on Design, will follow. Panelists include Frances Anderton, Host, DnA: Design and Architecture on KCRW and L.A. Editor, Dwell Magazine; Mariana Amatullo, Vice President, Designmatters and recipient of the 2012 Dell Outstanding Leadership in Social Innovation Education Award and David Mocarski, Chair, Environmental Design.

The event will be held Saturday, June 16 from 6-8 pm at Art Center’s Hillside Campus. Seating is limited; please contact events@artcenter.edu if you are interested in attending.

Art Center is proud to be an official partner of the West Coast’s largest design event, Dwell on Design, which boasts three days of the best and brightest products, services and thought leaders in modern design. Dwell on Design will be held from June 22 – 24 at the L.A. Convention Center.

As the only educational institution named a Silver Sponsor, Art Center will make a significant impact during the event. The College will occupy 1,000 square feet of exhibition space showing representative student and alumni work in Product and Environmental Design; lead a series of creative design activities on the show floor; and showcase student, faculty and alumni presentations on three separate stages at the event.

Dwell on Design runs from June 22- June 24 at the LA Convention Center.  Students can register for free.

Environmental Design and Product Design Students Showcase at New York Design Week

A short nap in Melissa Lee's "Lulla" provides an experience akin to being rocked in your parents arms.

Art Center was in full force at New York City’s 24th annual New York Design Week.

Students and alumni from the College were featured at both the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and the WantedDesignNYC Design Challenge.

Seven Environmental Design students—Sue Chung, Steve Oh, Melissa Lee, Minh Nguyen, Evan Liao, Brandon Kim and Me Young Kim—had their furniture and lighting projects on exhibition at this year’s ICFF.

Brandon Kim's "Harbor" outdoor poolside chaise is fabricated from polyepoxide powder-coated 5052 aluminum.

The exhibit of student work illustrated the “total spatial experience” philosophy of environmental design at Art Center—a philosophy in which the designer takes into consideration every detail from the first moment of encounter to the last moment of interaction. Each piece was designed based on the power of the story content and context that it defines, the interaction it creates and the emotional interface that it accomplishes.

Sunlight filtering through Me Young Kim's "Aureole" creates shadows of endless patterns and shapes.

Making a seamless transition from the classroom into the marketplace, these pieces immediately translate into the type of professional, marketable furniture that Art Center students are well-known for creating. By studying with working professionals, Art Center designers learn to create dynamic pieces as well as how to showcase their designs.

Art Center was also represented at ICFF by six alumni who were selected for ICFF Studio.

Both pieces of Sue Chung's "Ease" are made of wood. The top piece is spray painted; the bottom is left as raw finish.

Also, as part of New York Design Week, four students representing both Environmental Design—Jonathan Kim and Ji A You and Product Design—Ryan Oenning and Jacques Perrault—participated in the WantedDesignNYC Design Challenge.

Students were asked to use one material, one conceptual tool (e.g. computer software) and one fabrication tool (e.g. a laser cutting machine) to design and construct a lighting design of their own invention.

The Dotted Line tweetted live from ICFF using Art Center’s @art_center Twitter account and the #ICFF hashtag.

Additional information on Art Center students and alumni participating in New York Design Week events can be found here.

And if you know of any other New York Design Week events that the Art Center community should know about, please leave us a note in the comments below.