what's new & associated projects

DESIGN & INNOVATION
Read Tony Fry’s submission to the Review of the National Innovation System: The Role of Design as a Contributor to Innovation – pdf file

NEW COURSE: MASTER OF DESIGN FUTURES
Tony Fry has been appointed as an Adjunct Professor to Griffith University, Queensland College of Art to run the new Design Futures Masters Program.

This groundbreaking course, to be introduced in July 2008, is about the creation of new design practices able to respond to the unfolding challenges of the twenty-first century, not least climate change and the imperative of creating a sustainable economy and culture. Tony Fry says that the course is directed at “people wishing to be pathfinders” and that the course aims  “… to go beyond the likes of ‘green design’, ‘ecodesign’ and ‘sustainable design’ to create a far broader and more powerful strategic practice that places design in a more significant position to lead positive change”. The Master of Design Futures is open to graduates from design disciplines and a wide range of other professions. Further information: www.griffith.edu.au/qca/design/programs/designfutures  

NEW BOOK: DESIGN FUTURING
Berg is publishing Tony Fry’s latest book, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice in November 2008. The book makes the case for a new kind of leadership which recognises design’s importance in overcoming a world made unsustainable. It exposes the limitations of existing ‘sustainable design’ and systematically presents ideas and methods of ethical change. Design Futuring begins by arguing that design be subordinated to ‘redirective practice’ and then explores forms of strategic thinking to deliver design’s transformation. Besides offering critical analysis and challenging ideas Design Futuring presents industrial design and architectural case studies, including: the design consequences of the automobile; redesigning the Olympic Games; design, shelter and homelessness; and the transformation of an architectural practice.

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE WORLD – INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION
Team D/E/S with Gall & Medek Architects gained second place in the RIBA-USA California Chapter’s international competition ‘ Building a Sustainable World – Life in the Balance’. Tony Fry and Jim Gall presented to judges at a symposium at the Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles in June 2007. Our proposal, titled ‘Boonah 2’ is about designing a process for an existing community to develop towards sustainment in the face of climate change. Twelve teams from seven different countries made it to the finals. A US architectural publisher will be producing a book of the winning entries. More information at http://www.riba-usa.org

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY POLITICS
Spun off from online journal Design Philosophy Papers (see below), and working in collaboration with dedicated people in Social Informatics at University of Indiana, Team D/E/S, in mid 2007, launched a polemical online journal  - www.designphilosophypolitics.com

REDIRECTIVE PRACTICE
Increasingly, Team D/E/S is working with a diversity of designers, visual artists and others who are seeking to turn their professional practices toward the development of sustainment. We are developing the idea of ‘redirectrive practice’ as a new kind of meta-designing to overarch and transform existing practices. Read about the ideas behind it in this article from Design Philosophy Papers.  

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY PAPERS

Team D/E/S Publications launched this refereed online journal in 2003, which is growing in readership, influence and the quality of contributions. Design Philosophy Papers aims to involve people from different disciplines in thinking about and developing understandings of design as a world-shaping force. Contributors and editors are from many parts of the world and include distinguished writers such as philosopher of technology, Albert Borgmann; Heideggerian philosopher William McNeill; architectural theorist, Karsten Harries; sustainable designer Ezio Manzini; and geographer/historian/urban theorist, Augustin Berque. The latest issue of the journal is available free at www.desphilosophy.com

TREELINES
TreeLines is Team D/E/S’s education pavilion at Ravensbourne (south east Queensland, near Toowoomba). A sustainably designed, simple timber building set amongst remnant rainforest and hardwood plantation provides a unique context for practical learning. Events and activities are provided for different audiences from school and university students through to the local community plus a diversity of professionals. We have run workshops on topics ranging from forest ecology, farm forestry, timber design and specification through to organic farming and even ‘writing the landscape’. For more information contact amwillis@teamdes.com.au