Arctic Design

This seminar introduces students to (i) disciplinary debates on Arctic design, (ii) rapidly changing Arctic environments, (iii) past and present design approaches in Arctic urban landscapes, and (iv) project precedents from across the Circumpolar North. The course is grounded in a historical understanding of Arctic settlements and landscapes across a range of spatial, temporal, and cultural registers. This diverse, relational, and extensive reading of a plural Arctic is an essential first layer for every designer interested in working with polar landscapes.

The ambition of the seminar is to prepare students to critically engage with the challenges and complexities that come with designing in the Arctic regions. It does this by providing a range of rich discussions, lectures, and guest lectures. The latter includes people sharing their way of designing with or approaching, translating, seeing, and inhabiting Arctic landscapes. Among this cohort, some are Indigenous, some are residents, and some are visitors to the Circumpolar North.

By the end of the semester, each student is expected to develop and complete an extended visual essay on an agreed topic. All students are encouraged to produce a landscape-driven speculation about the challenges and/or future of Arctic design. This effort will be preceded by three short papers.