Jul 17, 2023
This fall I’m starting my new job at at Northeastern, and I’ll be teaching one of the “Design Tactics” seminars for students in architecture. Design Tactics can be organized around a formal feature of the built world, such as “the corner,” or “the threshhold,” or they can be like mine: broad social topics as glimpsed in artifacts and environments. Here’s my working description for the roughly ten of us who’ll gather:
Design Tactics and the Human Body
Explores the built environment as it meets the human body, with special attention to the assisted body over the life span: architecture and design for reproduction, birth and maternity care, childcare, illness and disability, aging, and end of life care. Major topics include prosthetic augmentation and inclusive design, architecture and material culture for caregiving, plus philosophical attention to acute vulnerability and its role in design for democratic life. Field trips and guest speakers will accompany theoretical readings and weekly close examination of practical and critical artifacts.
If you have ideas for readings or examples (esp real-life ones in Boston!), I’ll happily hear it.