Dilbert’s cubicle and other workplace delights

This course will study very specific industrial design objects whose history has affected the evolution of the work place.Students will be required to design furniture, fixtures and other office equipment as a means of investigating the association between design, the workplace, social structure and consumer culture.Students will research the genealogy of key objects of the workplace, their marketing, their impact on office design, and most importantly their relationship to social changes in America throughout the twentieth century. Students will study models of design practices as they developed in the twentieth century. We will study how designers have balanced commercial interest against their own ideological concerns and the needs of the consumer. The class will work as a group, where each student will be asked to design a different object, often working on ideas initiated by others. The intention is to develop -as a class- alternatives to the contemporary workspace setting.Grading will be based on the quality, inventiveness and questions posed by each student\’s design proposals over the course of the semester, in addition to energetic, enthusiastic and insightful class presentations and participation.Prerequisites: GSD 1201or permission from the instructor.