Is it just a bed, a desk, and a chair? Could that describe a hotel room, a mere transit point without interest? What defines a good hotel room experience? Do we always seek the same homogeneous, sterile, and neutral hotel experience every time we travel or do we yearn for something more, a unique moment that jolts and reshapes our perceptions? How would you feel about spending the night in a glass-walled room where other guests could observe you? Or perhaps, nestled within an oyster-shaped bed in a marine-themed hotel?

Contract spaces such as hotels and restaurants are in perpetual evolution, seeking to defy boundaries in order to peak our interest with exciting new experiences and services that break conventional hospitality paradigms. Through hands-on classroom activities and workshops, we'll explore the fundamental elements of hotel design and question how to break and redefine traditional boundaries. We will study the user experience, experiment with conventional and disruptive furniture and finishes and we will
conclude by developing a striking and innovative hotel room concept.

Our primary project will depart from renowned local hotels such as The Dean or The Beatrice. Throughout this course, students will be encouraged to collaborate and challenge the norms of classic hotel design by developing a new hotel room concept inside the framework of these conventional spaces. Our speculative designs will compel potential clients to reconsider their notions of modern hospitality.

Are you keen on designing a hotel room where guests crave a unique and groundbreaking
experience? If so, this is your chance. Let's envision and shape the future of hotel design together.

Elective

Veneer perhaps represents the greatest attempt to shape wood to the will of the maker. Cut to extremely thin dimensions, it allows the maker to ignore seasonal wood movement when glued to a substrate and bend it in contradiction to its directional properties. This course will focus on exploring the techniques of veneering on flat surfaces. Topics covered will include an overview of veneering panels—from simple surface veneering to complex layouts—as well as marquetry and parquetry. Students will be asked to demonstrate proficiency in various techniques while producing self-directed projects that engage the unique questions that veneering poses. What possibilities does veneering open up that solid construction does not? Why do we care about the aesthetics of wood enough to manufacture these panels? How does image-making in wood inform the design of a piece? How does honesty play into veneer work? While learning the techniques of veneering, we will consider the history of these processes, with careful consideration given to how craft is idealized or romanticized in service of contemporary technological processes. Studio work will be supplemented by lectures and conversations on historical and contemporary work in veneer. The class will also visit the RISD museum to view examples of veneer work.

Elective

Learn the theory of Windsor Chairs and how the use of wood in tension can create a chair like no other. This class will cover techniques necessary to the Windsor system of building while working through design decisions that will culminate in a completed chair. Students are encouraged to embrace process and parameters in a direct and hands-on manner. Through small projects, students will learn how to balance wood strength, aesthetics, joint strength and ergonomic considerations. These principles will be applied to a carefully considered, finished chair. Topics covered will include: selection of wood, turning, seat carving, complex radial layout, several types of joinery, and finish techniques.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Furniture Design Students.

Elective

This research elective class will focus on the myriad opportunities for the sustainable practice of design. The somewhat humbling point of departure is the fact that many, if not all, of the problems we currently face are the direct result of previous design solutions. There are numerous topics to cover under each of the following domains. Our aim is to expose students to meaningful comprehensive and anticipatory sustainability thinking. The focus of the class will be on the development of a comprehensive, operationally useful "sustainability lens" through which to evaluate design decisions as they are being made in hopes of avoiding the Law of Unintended Consequences on the front end, rather than seeking to simply design without regard for the potentially negative outcomes that require fixing on the back end.

• Material: The 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics, Material choice, material sourcing, life cycle analysis, the containment of entropy.
• Economic: Full Spectrum Accounting. Bring all externalities back onto the balance sheet
• Life: Creating conditions conducive to life.
• Biomimetics: Learning from Nature not just about Nature. The preservation of biodiversity.
• Social: How does your object contribute to the quality of life for maker and user, and other organisms as well? Appropriate human behavior in the biosphere.
• Spiritual: An exploration of how students' work contributes to the "Great Work", embracing uncertainty and cultivating wonder.

Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00

Open to juniors and above.

This course will focus on the art of upholstery design. It will teach the basics of traditional techniques and materials; cover historic influences; and explore methods used in mass production. The course will survey nontraditional materials and review unconventional methods. There will be an emphasis on ergonomics including shaping, angles, and scale and how upholstery impacts comfort. This is a hands-on class where students will gain experience applying the techniques of upholstery.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

Championed by utopian thinkers of the 20th century like Buckminster Fuller and Frei Otto, the idea of doing more with less has become ingrained in the development of new building systems. Design for vehicles, extreme environments, and sports have pushed the field of lightweight structures along, creating a vast array of new materials and building techniques. This course will examine lightweight structures through the lens of material research and exploration. Emphasis will be placed on developing assembly systems that are integral to the particular materials being explored. Topics introduced in this course will include but not be limited to tensile structures, space frames, pneumatic structures, tensegrity, frozen fabrics and the various form finding strategies associated with each. This course will also examine the various ways that this topic can be approached through both physical and digital model making. Computer modeling experience is preferred, but not required.

Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

This course focuses on material and process investigations that lead to a higher degree of technical proficiency providing students with an expanded foundation on which to carry out their ideas. The content of the course emphasizes how exploration and application operate in both pragmatic and unorthodox ways and reinforces ideas of how critical making and material investigation can lead to innovation. The technical aspects of production and outsourcing will also be examined.

Estimated Materials Cost: $150.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Furniture Design

This course concentrates on the exploration of personal design aesthetics and the development of furniture projects that exhibit a high degree of technical proficiency.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Furniture Design Students only.

Major Requirement | MFA Furniture Design

Witness trees, as designated by the National Park Service, are long-standing trees that have witnessed key events, trends, and people in history. In this joint studio/liberal arts course, students have the unique opportunity to study and work with a fallen witness tree, shipped to RISD from a national historic site. The course will involve three components:

1) a field trip to the tree's site at the beginning of the semester

2) classroom-based exploration of American history, memory, landscape, and material culture

3) studio-based building of a series of objects from the tree's wood, in response to both the site and students' classroom study

Overall, the course will explore both how material artifacts shape historical understanding and how historical knowledge can create meaningful design.

This is a co-requisite course. Students must register for HPSS-S732 and FD-2451.

Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

Located in the heart of Copenhagen this course is a three week immersion in the world of New Nordic design with a focus on Denmark. Denmark is the forefront of design and sustainability. Through this course, students will explore the historical influences and current trends that have helped create a national culture identity of integrating design and sustainability into the Danish daily life. Class time includes seminars with prominent Scandinavian designers. There will be multiple design assignments some which include making and modeling, others are research based. There are class field trips to manufacturers - PP M°bler, Fritz Hansen, Ilomio and more - in addition to design studio visits to Muuto, Hay, Normann and others. We will also visit IKEA's headquarters in Sweden where we meet members of the in-house design team and see the IKEA facilities. Though the focus will be on furniture, there will be discussions and field trips that explore the influence of Danish design upon architecture, city planning, lighting, ceramics and textiles. Local explorations include recent architectural works and city sites such as Bjarke Ingles + BIG, Henning Larsen, Lungaard & Tranberg and more. Additional cultural visits include the Danish Design Museum, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and historical sites.

Students must complete an application through RISD Global to be added to this course. A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required, good conduct standing, and permission of the instructor. GPA, Student Conduct Standing, and standing with Equity and Compliance will be verified and may preclude a student from participation, either before or during the term. Most courses are open to first year students with approval from the Dean of Experimental and Foundation Studies.

Elective

This course explores advanced design processes and methods of construction. The evolution of a project through a complete design process is required including conceptual and design development phases.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Furniture Design

This course concentrates on projects that begin the thesis body of work. Advanced design and technical processes are continued as part of this process.

Open to Graduate Furniture Design Students only.

Registration by the Furniture Design Department; this course is not available via web registration. Please contact the department for permission to register.

Major Requirement | MFA Furniture Design

The graduate seminar is a forum for discussion and research outside of the studio setting. Through a series of topical investigations, lectures and presentations, students will explore current design issues, professional practices, directions, and developments within the field, and other topics that will help to formulate the basis of the graduate thesis work.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. First preference is given to Graduate Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Furniture Design

This graduate seminar is organized in parallel with the Graduate Furniture Design Thesis studio for the purpose of guiding the written thesis document. The goal is to provide students with a focused opportunity to map their thesis projects and to create the document that supports their studio practice and body of work known as the thesis.

Open to Graduate Furniture Design Students only.

Registration by the Furniture Design Department; this course is not available via web registration.

This course culminates the completion of the thesis body of works and accompanying written document.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Furniture Design

This studio course introduces materials commonly used in furniture making and the foundation skills necessary to integrate them into furniture. Emphasis is on techniques, structures and materials properties. These are integrated with theoretical exercises that focus on design.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

This studio course introduces materials commonly used in furniture making and the foundation skills necessary to integrate them into furniture. Emphasis is on techniques, structures and materials properties. These are integrated with theoretical exercises that focus on design.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

This sophomore studio expands basic principles of furniture design and material skills, exploring how the made objects interact with the human body. Intermediate skills will be demonstrated and practiced as students further explore materials and their applications in design.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

This sophomore studio expands basic principles of furniture design and material skills, exploring how the made objects interact with the human body. Intermediate skills will be demonstrated and practiced as students further explore materials and their applications in design.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

This course will provide students with a high level of competency and an increased sensitivity to the creative potential that CAD modeling presents to designers. Students will be introduced to the fundamental concepts and technologies of CAD using Rhinoceros. There will be expenses associated with outputting services (printing, rapid prototyping and/or CNC machining).

Instructor permission is required to register for this course. Please contact the instructor for permission to register; this course is not available via web registration. 

Elective