BIMtopia
Design Project 2 | Project Brief
Design Project 2 | Project Brief

Design Project 2 | Project Brief

Overview

In this project, you’ll design a SPACE, PLACE, BUILDING FEATURE, or PHYSICAL INTERVENTiON that supports or promotes sustainable behaviors and practices for a COMMUNITY.

For this second project, start by thinking about a COMMUNITY that will be the focus of your design efforts. It should be a community that:

  • you are very familiar with
  • you have access to — so, you can:
    • interview or survey the community members about their attitudes, behaviors, and needs
    • test your design ideas in progress

It could be:

  • a school
  • a group or club that you belong to
  • a neighborhood (at home or on-campus)
  • a housing estate
  • a city or town

Then, as you use the design thinking process to identify a specific need and ideate about potential solutions, be sure to consider a broad range of divergent options:

  • a SPACE or PLACE — that supports or promotes sustainability in the day-to-day activities of members of the community.
  • a BUILDING FEATURE or PHYSICAL INTERVENTION --  something physical that can be manufactured or built, then placed in use in a community.

Design Team

  • For this second design project, you will be working in teams of four, which will be randomly selected during class.

Design Thinking Steps

For this second design project, you’ll again use these steps of the design thinking process:

  • empathizing - surveying, interviewing, or observing community members to understand their needs
  • defining -- identifying several potential problem / opportunity areas and developing point of view statements for each area
  • ideating - brainstorming using divergent and convergent thinking to generate potential strategies for addressing the needs identified in your selected point of view, then defining your team’s minimal viable design features
  • prototyping -- creating very rough prototypes of the essential design features to explore and illustrate the user experience and functionality of your proposed design
  • testing - observing community members as they test your design prototypes, then iterating and refining your design ideas
  • sharing -- presenting your prototypes, design thinking steps, and your evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of your proposed design

Sharing Your Proposed Design

You will share your team’s proposed design ideas with other studio members and reviewers.  We’ll all be evaluating your proposed designs based on these criteria:

  • creativity / originality of concept -- Is this a new or exceptionally creative idea or approach?
  • practicality / feasibility -- Can the product be manufactured? Is it feasible?
  • impact -- Does the product have a measurable impact on sustainability or resilience?
  • presentation -- Is the presentation of the proposed design clear, complete, and compelling?