In this course students will learn about the fundamental components of exhibitions, from theory to practice, from curatorial to design. Through a series of lectures, guest talks, workshops, class discussions, and short assignments, students will learn the principles of the art of exhibition making and what renders it unique. At the end of the course students will design and build a collaborative exhibition where each of them will create a display system for a personal belonging of their choice. Students will have to curate and design the individual display setting and write labels for their selected item. Additionally, the class will work together to structure a cohesive narrative of the final exhibit made by a series of personal belongings which will be juxtaposed in the gallery space to tell the layered and fragmentary story of their lives.

Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00

Elective

All designers know that research is the fundamental basis of an informed design practice – but what exactly constitutes an effective, critical and inclusive research practice in an era of information overload and data bias? This course provides an overview of different techniques of research, addressing archives, secondary source material, common data sets, interviews/oral history, spatial and visual analysis, and object-based research (such as archaeology).  Throughout, we will attend to the ways in which research methods and practices often produce inaccurate, incomplete, or biased pictures of the past, present and future by omitting – either intentionally or unintentionally – certain perspectives, experiences and stories, and elevating others.  In this class, students will develop a critical, ethical and community-centered research practice that will contribute to more rigorous thesis projects and a more informed and inclusive design practice. 

Elective

The course focuses on understanding the origin of museums and recognizing the influence that certain dominant design aesthetics, approaches, and narratives had on exhibitions. The museum
architectural space and its interior exhibition design are never 'neutral' and the study of its
history, codification, and exploitation are essential to rebalance and subvert the structural
inequalities between Trouillot's agents (museums/institution), actors (curators/exhibit
designers), and subject of museum narratives (artifacts/art/belongings). Through lectures,
readings, and class debate, students will be encouraged to question how aesthetics impregnate
exhibition environments through materials, light, colors, forms, and meanings; to acknowledge that
architecture and exhibition design aesthetics are always politicized and that in the tiniest details
of their morphology and their organization, museums have the power to validate, the power to
corroborate , the power to include, and the deliberate power to silence. 

Major Elective: MDes ENE

Topics in Exhibition and Narrative Environments I is the first part in a year-long exploration of a fluid field in which exhibition occurs in museums as well as other environments. This seminar offers various approaches for that exploration and will provide the student insight into different aspects of exhibition: curatorial matters, experience design, narrative creation, graphic design, new media, user participation, installation, site specificity, production, etc. The content may change from year to year to include special projects. The content may change from year to year and may include theory, hands-on installation, curatorial matters, research, design planning, materials, new technology, time based interactions, and, of course, design of the narrative environment.

Open to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies Exhibition and Narrative Environments

Topics in Exhibition and Narrative Environments II follows upon INTAR-2102 and continues the exploration of the principles of exhibition from curatorial matters, experience design, narrative creation, graphic design, new media, user participation, installation, site specificity, production, etc. Topics II will conclude with the selection of a potential Thesis subject.

Open to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies Exhibition and Narrative Environments

This course is primarily intended to provide some insight into the design objectives of the studio projects of the undergraduate and graduate degree programs of Interior Architecture at RISD. As a studio introduction to Interior Architecture for non-majors, the course will focus on the spatial design concerns of the department focusing on how one creates and occupies built space. Projects will explore the realm of work that begins with an architectural volume and transforms it from the ill-used or obsolete, to one with new purpose and viability, presented in drawings and models.

Elective

This course, the first in a sequence, explores design principles through design problems involving the unique fundamental framework for the reuse of existing structures. The semester is arranged around several projects, providing access to the discipline from as many related perspectives. The project assignments require the student to visually and verbally convey clear design intent, think visually in two and three dimensions, formulate and develop abstract design concepts, discern relationships between design interventions and their physical and contextual setting and develop presentation skills to effectively communicate propositions and positions.

Open to Sophomore Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This course further develops design principles from the first semester and introduces students to methodological thinking in the relationship between context, scale and use. Real site situations are introduced and students develop individual design processes associating topological relationships between the interior and exterior, at multiple scales of interventions. Students will have the opportunity to explore design issues through both traditional and computer generated design.

Open to Sophomore Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This lecture course is designed to familiarize students with structural principles and systems as they relate to the study of interior architecture and adaptive reuse. The course will examine the performance and composition of various structural systems, including wood, lightweight metal, steel, masonry, and concrete structures. Local examples in the built environment will be explored to gain an understanding of structures, their materials and components in adaptive reuse. Course work will be complimented by visits to local examples in the built environment.

Open to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse

This course provides students with an opportunity to study how distinct building systems are constructed to form a comprehensive whole. Through case studies, students will examine approaches to integrating a variety of systems, such as structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, acoustic, and communication systems. This course will focus on how interior architecture interfaces with existing buildings; the case studies will be of recent works that have altered existing building. Students will be required to use the shop and computers to execute their individual and group assignments.

Open to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse

This class introduces the student to different building materials, their properties and characteristics as they relate to the design of interior, sustainable structures. This will include interior finish materials as well as the understanding of wood, metal, masonry and concrete for projects of reuse. The student will visit sites of material production as part of this course. The course structure includes sketch assignments, a midterm, a final exam.

Open to Sophomore Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

While introducing students to the principal concepts of structural design and mechanical systems, the course will attempt to provide a direct link to the built environment with focus on the rehabilitation, preservation and adaptive reuse of existing structures, both historical and contemporary. The presentation of case studies, focus on the structural and mechanical aspects of students' individual studio projects and the excursion to a construction site will bridge the gap between class room and the world of building.

Open to Junior Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies