Students at the Master of Interior Architecture and Retail Design (MIARD) Programme will present new work for exhibition at Ventura Lambrate 2012, during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. The exhibition is planned as an im­mersive 35m2 environment. The concept of the exhibition will be organised around the idea of the (re)emerging role of the “domestic garden” through a “research through making” approach to design and craft.

Thematic Design Project: FABRIKAAT

The work that will be produced for exhibition at Ventura Lambrate is structured as the Thematic Design Project for Trimester 2 of the MIARD programme. Through various processes of making and an exploration of materials and applications, the final full-scale projects will be defined. Both hand and digital craft will be explored to study the behavior of materials, form, structure, scale and function as ‘integrated systems’ for both interior and exterior application.

We intend to use craft as an inspiration for the design studio on two fronts. First, students will research historical exam­ples of craft, particularly Dutch crafts, as a source of inspiration for their projects. Secondly, the principle of craft to be an integral part of the studio culture. The students working in teams will need to become experts in a particular fabrication technique and material, to be able to extract the design parameters and techniques of fabrication method to use in their own projects. The production process will be split into four different categories: fabrication, materials, historical reference, and application. We will study current and historical case studies related to craft, exhibi­tion and furniture design, installation art, as well as other contemporary forms.

The final exhibition will be divided into two parts: Part 1 of the work will show process and experimentation, Part 2 will showcase four completed full-scale projects that have emerged based on the re­search of Part 1. The exhibition will include material explorations, assemblage techniques, and prototypes. Each team will have a video screen at the exhibition that documents the full process of their project’s develop­ment. The project aim is to explore the creative potential of a “research through making” approach to design and to offer our Masters student’s international public platforms to exhibit and promote their design work.

More information and project website coming soon.

Exhibition Dates:
VENTURA LAMBRATE® 2012
Tuesday 17 April 2012 – Sunday 22 April 2012
Milan, Italy

External Guest Critics:
Marta Male-Alemany
Institute of Advanced Architecture Catalonia
IAAC

Dries Verbruggen
Unfold Design Studio