1. IDES 4302 [0.5 credit]
Minor Projects B
e application of required skills and team work in a comprehensive design project. e subject
matter deals with broad issues in design.
Prerequisite(s): IDES 3302 or permission of the School of Industrial Design.
Lectures and tutorials two hours a week, studio four hours a week.
Proposal
Integral Design
e course outlines a new, rigorous theoretical and practical approach to understanding
sustainable design through integral approach: technological, ecological, experiential, and cultural
sustainability. It introduces students to the multiple levels of design complexity and aids in
generating their own design philosophy. e course covers four fundamental perspectives:
1. Behaviours perspective: science, mechanics and performance
2. Systems perspective: social and natural ecologies and contexts
3. Experiences perspective: self and consciousness
4. Cultures perspective: meaning, worldviews, and symbolism
In doing so, the integral approach to sustainable design offers the students the potential for a
better understanding of how their philosophy fits into the bigger picture of contemporary design
practice.
Course Outline
e course consists of:
1. Exploration of four fundamental perspectives:
• behaviours
• systems
• experiences
• cultures
2. Exploration of four design worldviews through historical examples and evaluating their failure
and success:
• Transpersonal (e Nature of Order by Christopher Alexander)
• Integral (Curitiba city planning, eco-industrial parks)
• Postmodern (Habitat for humanity)
• Modern (e Bauhaus School)
• Traditional (e Ecole des Beaux-Arts)
3. Introduction to design awareness, its six essential lines, and interrelationships between them:
• form and space
• place and context
• product and building systems
• use
• experience
• ideas

2. 4. Expanding Design Self. What is my design philosophy and how do I fit in and stand out?
• Traditional worldview: eco-manager designer
• Modern worldview: eco-strategist designer
• Postmodern worldview: eco-pluralist designer
• Integral worldview: eco-integralist designer
5. Exploration of the future of design. Six perceptual shifts from past to future:
• Shift from objects to relationships to subject-object relations
• Shift from analysis to context to analysis-context-ground
• Shift from structure to process to systems
• Shift from materiality to configuration to pattern languages
• Shift from parts to wholes to holons
• Shift from hierarchies to networks to holarchies
6. Exploration of five levels of design and its connection to nature:
• Design in relationship to traditional nature
• Design in relationship to modern nature
• Design in relationship to postmodern nature
• Design in relationship to integral nature
• Design in relationship to transpersonal nature
Course Dynamics
e students will participate in debates and discuss design philosophies in relation to their
personal design practice. Assignments will be completed in teams, where each student devises his
or her own philosophy and learns to collaborate with designers of different design worldviews.
References
Literature
Alexiou, K. (2010). Embracing Complexity in Design. Routledge, New York, USA.
DeKay, M. (2011). Integral Sustainable Design: Transformative Perspectives. Earthscan, London, UK.
Tilder, L. (2010). Design Ecologies. Essays on the Nature of Design. Princeton Architectural Press,
New York.
People
Capra, Fritjof. Principles of ecosystems
Hasdell, Peter. Pneuma and design
Mau, Bruce. Massive design
Mari, Enzo. Design is knowledge
Oxman, Neri. MIT Media Lab
Tonkinwise, Cameron. Many Designs rather than Massive Design
Turk, Stephen. Ecology of tables