Design Across Scales, Disciplines and Problem Contexts
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate-level course examining how design, science, and technology shape one another. Topics span industrial design, architecture, visualization and perception, design computation, material ecology, and environmental design and sustainability. Students study how shifts in scientific and technological knowledge have altered design thinking over time, and conversely how design practice has fed back into science and engineering. Coursework includes developing methodologies for design research and collaborating on solutions to interdisciplinary problems that cross scales, from material properties to building systems to urban environments. Materials are drawn from MIT's Department of Architecture and the Media Arts and Sciences program, and include readings, project assignments, and case studies rather than a single lecture format. Free to access under MIT OpenCourseWare's open license, with no certificate offered.