Alfredo Häberli
Mikko Thewes, Recycling Fiction
Patrick Salz, Miracle
Masterstudio Industrial Design provides a high-level, individualised, professional and research-oriented qualification on the basis of “advanced design”. The programme enables the students to methodically and creatively hone their own individual forward-looking approach to design. Product design and project work are embedded in our international network, taking place in close cooperation with selected experts affiliated with the ICDP.
The Masterstudio Industrial Design programme focuses on three main contemporary research areas: Digital Integration, Design Cultures and Circular Design. The discourses surrounding global crises such as climate change or social inequality provide the basis for concrete research questions on and design solutions for sustainability and ecology, future planning and technology, interaction and materiality. We are not afraid to take a stand, define values and resituate design. The comprehensive and interdisciplinary modules of the Masterstudio programmes add to and deepen the design perspectives gained previously by the students.
“Advanced Design” describes approach and action. We think about design solutions from the perspective of user groups and their environment, assuming an extrapreneurial position: one geared towards better, more sustainable design strategies or products. Rather than adhering to the entrepreneurial dynamic of maximisation, we take the idea of a collaborative, systemic, inclusive and sustainable economy as our starting point.
The first semester of the master’s programme is devoted to project work, which is performed within the framework of international collaborations. Integrated project visits abroad provide a chance to gain intercultural experiences and enrich students’ skill sets. Our Advanced Design programme is made up of modules on specific topics such as technology, society, economy or the environment. They cover socio-economic developments and open up spaces for theoretical and applied research. The master’s thesis is meant to be an expression of the students’ personal profile and research investigations. In line with international standards, students have one year to complete it.
In addition to working with experienced mentors from the Masterstudio Industrial Design programme, students are guided by hand-picked affiliated professionals: influential, international personalities from the design world.
The programme is intended for people who have earned a BA in industrial or product design, designers, and applicants from related or design-oriented programmes.
