We are writing to you with details on our Winter 2023 Session 2 Studios. Below, you will find a brief summary of our studio offerings. 

Imagining the Ideal

This is an advanced visualization studio that will examine and critique the rapid adoption of AI image generation as a tool within the creative process. The studio will be driven, in part, by student-led discussions that center on the dilemmas and opportunities within this emerging field, such as combating bias and inequity inherent to these generative models, how to attribute authorship and credit, and anticipating future roles of artists and designers within this new paradigm. The studio will culminate in a final project in which students will research disparate notions of utopias and dystopias within literature, film, and across cultures, using these findings as creative prompts for AI image generation.

Renewable Design Space 

In this studio, students will explore the medium of Virtual Reality in order to inform and educate others about renewable technologies. Students in this studio will create experiences that enrich our understanding of scientific principles, renewable technologies, and complex systems by designing their own virtual spaces. Students will conduct research into renewable technologies, study the evolution of green tech, and hear from guest speakers working within the energy industry. In the end, students will create projects that use VR to tell stories, educate others, and realize the potential of fossil-fuel alternatives.

Health Devices

As medical technology improves, applications shift from treatment and recovery to early detection and prevention - oftentimes via medical devices. Medical devices vary in both their intended use and indications for use. In this studio, students will explore means of measuring vital signs and detecting strains on the human body through advanced modeling and programming skills to synthesize their findings and design a medical device that allows users the autonomy and capability to measure their health status.

Stop Motion Animation

Students will create a Personal Service Announcement (PSA) about a social issue they care about using Stop-Motion Animation. Diving into all aspects of stop-motion techniques, students will learn the analog beginnings of flip-book animation; how to work with multiple art materials to represent their ideas; and techniques of filming and editing in digital software. 

 Re-Entry Housing

Mass incarceration is a major issue that disproportionately threatens black and brown communities. Recidivism, the rate at which people are rearrested after being released from prison, is extremely high. In this studio, we will partner with The Ahimsa Collective (based in Oakland, CA) to develop a permanent tiny home community for formerly incarcerated individuals, providing these returning citizens with a long-term nurturing, safe and healing environment to help ease their transition back into society.

Designing for this clientele means that we have to examine the prison system, to further understand how to ethically design a reentry system for them. We will learn about the historical implications of the prison system through watching documentaries, reading articles and excerpts from books, as well as through first-hand interviews with our client, which we will apply to our design of a tiny home community.