---
title: Design Studio
page_type: course
track:
course_type:
feature_img: 
img_caption: 
faculty: 
    - olga-trevisan
    - sally-bourdon
---

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## Syllabus

MDEF Research, Design and Development studios aim to take research areas of interest and initial project ideas into an advanced concretion point, and execution plan. The studio structure in three terms could be understood as follows:

**TERM 1 Research**: Understanding what it means to design for emergent futures. Analyzing the past and finding weak signals. References, state of the art. Identifying areas of interest. Experimenting from the first-person perspective.

**TERM 2 Design**: Forming the present through interventions in the real world. Building the foundations of your design space, forming strategic partnerships. Applying knowledge into practice through iterative prototyping. Testing ideas and prototypes in the real world.

**TERM 3 Development**: Refining interventions and identifying desirable futures. Establishing roadmaps for the construction of emergent narratives.. Communicating and disseminating your project through speculative design.

The third term Design Studio aims to refine the work developed by the students during the first two terms of the Master program. After finding and engaging with communities of practice in the second term through a number of initial interventions, students will be encouraged to grow and consolidate those relationships and take a step further. They will design and deploy one last intervention that can serve as closure for their journey in the Master program. At the same time it will act as a launching pad for establishing the alternative presents where they will continue shaping their envisioned emergent futures after the end of the programme.

## Deliverables

**_10 High-resolution photos of the journey of your project and final interventions_**

**_Master Thesis - Chapters 0-11, adding this Term the following chapters:_**

**Chapter 8**: Final Interventions: Descriptions and results

**Chapter 9**: Final Alternative Present

**Chapter 10**: Designing yourself out: Strategies for Continuity and Scalability

**Chapter 11**: Final Reflection

**Reference Sources / Bibliography**

**_(2-5) min Video_**

Selected physical exhibition material for **IAAC and Elisava**- Poster + physical prototypes to be displayed for a few days (TBC with Chiara)

## Faculty

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