Tuesday 15th February at 17.30, in S1 Konstfack University College of the Arts, Craft and Design.

Prototyping has enabled a new model of design research in which the focus is not so much on the creation of a final design but rather on the creation of design knowledge itself. With the design of each prototype, for example, new knowledge is created, even in those instances where the solution itself is found to be unsatisfactory. Prototyping produces numerous plausible solutions, and while only one of these many will ultimately prove to be the “right solution”, each prototype – even “failures” – produce valuable knowledge – about structure, material tolerances, etc. – available for future development or repurposing.

Speaks will discuss this new model of design research by first developing an a historical narrative of its emergence and then by offering contemporary examples in architecture and design practice and in design education.

The lecture is arranged by Konstfack in collaboration with the Stockholm School of Entreprenurship (SSES).

Michael Speaks, Ph.D., is Dean of the College of Design and Professor of Architecture at the University of Kentucky. Former Director of the Graduate Program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, Speaks has also taught in the graphic design department at the Yale School of Art, and in the architecture schools at Harvard University, Columbia University, The University of Michigan, UCLA, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, and the Berlage Institute and TU Delft, in the Netherlands.