Scholarship 2019-2020
Student Work Featured through Exhibit/Media
NY11+ Exhibit | 2019, NYC
2018 Multi-Story/Multi-Purpose Design: Urban Shelter/Community Center Projects
Presentations
Question Everything! Driving passion, values and programmatic intelligence through writing intensive foundations
Author: Heidi E. Schlegel, NCIDQ IDEC
INTED2020 | 14th Annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference | Virtual Presentation | March 2-4 2020 | Valencia Spain
Abstract
Instilling passion, values and programmatic intelligence has been a challenge faced by many design educators. Leading students to understand the power of design to incite change, heal societal ills, support inclusion and remediate negative impacts, serves to support societal interests and promotes value of the design profession. We are welcoming into higher education a cohort of politically aware, and engaged individuals eager to incite change. Eager, yet still within the “instant gratification generation” that relies on social media, blogs and sound-bytes for their information. Eileen Grey famously stated: “To create, one must call everything into question”. This requires academically and scientifically founded understanding of the problem: facts over opinion. This presentation discusses the processes and goals of a 6-week assignment sequence within a writing intensive sophomore course which served to enhance and support higher-level programmatic thinking in studio applications. Outcomes were focused on developing a socially focused professional value system and understanding of the complexities and interconnected needs of the individual, society and the planet. Formatted under traditional requirements for programming processes to set a foundation for studios, the course content was sequenced and developed to support independent exploration of complex ideas based on three primary topical regions: human centered design (cognitive and physical influences), social justice and environmental concerns. Using environmental psychology foundations, shared learning techniques and hybridized classroom tools, students developed awareness of a myriad of subtopics within these wide categories. Topics were addressed in an intentional order to allow the interconnected qualities of the research to become apparent. Students begin by completing in-depth investigations of human centered physical and cognitive studies. Research then stepped to social justice topics which connected the human experience with society, culture, economy and global conflict as it relates to the built environment. These were then extended to integration of environmental concerns and impacts which further the connectivity to prior research. Finally, students are unleashed to determine a final topic of research for a full literature review process on a topic which drives their passion. Final outcomes demonstrate a widespread clear adoption of higher-level programmatic thinking, creating key interconnectivity of ideas from all topical regions. Through this process of self-discovery, students became enthusiastically engaged in intensive dialogues, developed a greater understanding of the complex relationships of all topical regions and developed distinct professional value systems. As exemplified by Finks taxonomy, significant learning outcomes were apparent through several evaluative means; including programming and project outcomes of subsequent studios. Communication skills were improved and higher-level dialogues and terminology were utilized in all realms. Post project online discussions and surveys demonstrated development of passionate engagement into social regions driving professional goals towards societal good. We are pivotal point in design education as we greet this new generation of engaged and driven individuals. This generation is critically positioned to break the architectural paradigms of exclusion, segregation and ecological degradation. Driving passion and values and the ability to look at a project with an eye to the intertwined complexities of the problem will support a shift to a more socially profitable architectural paradigm.
Download narrated PPT presentation submitted to virtual conference
The Gender Paradigm: a shift to universal accommodation
Author: Heidi E. Schlegel, NCIDQ IDEC
IDEC | Interior Design Educators Council Annual Conference | Scholarship of Design Research: Social Impact | Charlotte, NC | March 2019
Abstract
The topic of gender is rapidly evolving and continues to be at the forefront of social, political and architectural dialogues. The existing paradigm of gendered space: separation based on male/female physiological differences and a perceived need to protect safety, security and privacy is being challenged. “Pick a gender and go with it”: this seems to be the mindset of many when confronted with the topic. Substantial attention is being given to translating gendered places of public accommodation, primarily the public toilet, to include individuals who align alternatively within the gender binary: primarily trans populations. Although laudable in intent, current models continue to force individuals to identify within the gender binary or segregate them as special populations: the “other”. Gender is now being described as a spectrum: including cisgender, transgender, agender and genderqueer with many new terms on the horizon. Research suggests that as many as 1,000,000 Americans identify outside of cisgender “norms”. In many countries and some US states, a third gender (X) is being recognized. The pubic bathroom has changed our thinking of design. Gender neutral, segregated accommodations are being implemented to satisfy the needs of this population, but in a manner reminiscent of the 19th century Jim Crow Laws: separate cannot be equal. This presentation will review the existing literature on the gender spectrum, establish perceived vs. actual barriers to implementation and identify the needs to de-gender environments to support the design of areas of public accommodation considerate of the health and well-being of all. The existing body of research is focused on the public toilet and trans individuals. Little investigation is examines the widened gender spectrum, or inclusion of varied types of gendered space within the built environment: including retail dressing or locker and shower rooms. Primary findings determined the perceived barriers to implementation of non-gendered spaces include: perceptions of privacy and security, religious concerns and loss of gender space culture. Gender spaces, although a social rather than physical safety barrier, are perceived as places of escape, respite and for many, considered “sacred” space for gender specific socialization. Findings support that most of these perceived barriers can be addressed with greater levels of satisfaction within the application of non-gendered environments. Research further points to the need to remove the term “gender” in identifying all forms of public accommodation in order to de-stigmatize those outside the gender binary, while still embracing social, cultural and privacy needs. Current solutions to address non-binary populations focus on the inclusion of single use facilities often labeled to service families and the disabled, or “all gender”: accommodations that are often relegated to ancillary locations and are limited in their application. Non-binary and people with disabilities have been inexorably linked due to the lack of substantive access to public accommodation. The stigma created by these segregationist architectural models which enforce the cultural norms of the able-bodied gender binary, impacts them equally: shame, discrimination, social rejection, limited social integration, lack of sense and meaning of place. The design field has begun a shift in the paradigm, but to consider this topic satisfied in its new aim is far from realistic. Current solutions are not considering the holistic qualities of gendered space and continue to support a social and cultural exclusion of individuals on the gender spectrum. Design should foster cultures of inclusivity in public accommodation. As long as we support and continue to drive the existing paradigm of gendered space, in our design applications, these innate human needs will not be addressed. Separate is not equal. It is time for a paradigm shift to a true universally designed model.
Accepted Presentations
Note: due to family medical issue, these presentations were submitted, accepted and prepared, but not presented. They will be resubmitted to a future conference.
Pedagogy for Autonomy and Consciousness Raising: the balance between empowerment and chaos
Co-Authors: Heidi E . Schlegel, NCIDQ IDEC
Rim Fathallah, Doctoral Student, University of Toronto
IDEC | Interior Design Educators East Regional Conference | Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Teaching and Pedagogy | Villa Maria College, Buffalo NY | October 17-19 2019
Abstract:
Design curricula and pedagogies focused on design justice are needed to enhance the impact of the design profession. Educators may choose to emphasize an education for humanism, centered on affective, creative and dialogic personal liberation and conscious reflection or on a competencies-based education, which may exclude choice, risk and unpredictability. The latter education may result in a predetermination and over-specification of programmatic requirements leaving little room for contradictions and dialogue. One may assume that the interior design studio inherently fosters dialogue and inquisitive collaboration, leaving design decisions to autonomous students. However, this autonomy may be dwarfed by an excessively authoritarian teacher or overly specified requirements, leaving little room for diverse interpretations. This presentation showcases a comparison of three case studies of recurring international cyber charettes between North American, European and Middle Eastern student bodies. These one-week endeavors focused on driving risk taking for creativity, transnational communication and collaboration skills. Programs were open and formatted with two main goals. The first focused on empowering student teams to work autonomously towards a design goal. The second aimed to raise learners’ consciousness of cultural and social-structural justice in design. Outcomes were assessed through ongoing student discussions, project artifacts and post project surveys as well as faculty/researcher dialogues. Creative risk taking can be an impetus for innovation and a means for self-directed investigations to raise awareness about design justice topics. However minor variations in the project brief can result in mixed outcomes. Comparing findings across the three iterations reveal barriers demonstrating a critical fulcrum of balance between autonomous empowerment and chaos. It is key for design education to carefully strike a balance between an over-specified project brief limiting creativity and an under-specified one challenging the original raison d’être of the endeavor.
Question Everything! Driving passion, values and programmatic intelligence through writing intensive foundations
Author: Heidi E. Schlegel, NCIDQ IDEC
IDEC | Interior Design Educators East Regional Conference | Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Teaching and Pedagogy | Villa Maria College, Buffalo NY | October 17-19 2019
Abstract: See above