‘Design Co-determinism’ roundtable to be held April 13

Monday, April 11, 2011, By Erica Blust

“Design Co-determinism,” a lively roundtable exploring how designers might create greater self-determination in their professional careers and increase design value for people, will be held on Wednesday, April 13, at 5:30 p.m. in Shemin Auditorium of the Dorothea Ilgen Shaffer Art Building. It is open to the University community.

The discussion is co-sponsored by COLAB, Syracuse University’s collaborative design laboratory based in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) Department of Design; and iBox, the interdisciplinary, intercollegiate, industry-university, sustainable-design consortium in the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. It will be led by Donald Carr, associate professor of industrial and interaction design and senior COLAB faculty fellow in VPA, and Kevin Lair, assistant professor in the School of Architecture.

“Design Co-determinism” will feature panelists Ben Farrell ’94, experience architect at Continuum in Boston; Chris Pollard ’93, studio director at the Rockwell Group in New York City; and Brian Lonsway, associate professor of architecture at SU. The discussion will attempt to answer the following questions: To what extent are we shaping the roles, opportunities and outcomes of design as a profession and a practice? What internal and external forces are empowering or constraining the practice of design? How can design disciplines develop fluid boundaries to better serve our end goals? Or do the needs and desires for the professionalization of design disciplines demand we have multiple, contradictory goals?

For more information about the roundtable, contact Carr at dwcarr@syr.edu.