Introduces fundamental design principles as a way to demystify design and provide a basic introduction to all aspects of the process. Stimulates creativity, abstract thinking, representation, iteration, and design development. Equips students with skills to have more effective communication with designers, and develops their ability to apply the foundations of design to any discipline.

In this multi-day workshop participants will learn about the basics of rope splicing and the role of this craft method in the work of artist Janet Echelman. The workshop will begin with a talk from artist Janet Echelman followed by a tutorial on rope splicing techniques. The remainder of the workshop will be focused on constructing a full-scale prototype of a fragment of a site-specific sculpture that is scheduled to be installed in the MIT Museum in the fall of 2025. The workshop will end with a test fit of the fragment on site in the MIT Museum.

As cities, industries, and manufacturing systems have formed over centuries, their waste streams are producing an ever-growing accumulation of matter, a material stockpile that can be mined. In the present time of climate crisis, when resourcefulness and critical, creative practices are becoming imperative, the agency of the designer shifts to appreciate scavenged, processed, & off-cut materials, and hone new ways of imagining what they can produce.

For the OFFCUT/CUTOFF IAP Workshop, we will immerse ourselves in the environment of metal parts manufacturing that underpins the Bahrain’s HVAC and air conditioning industries. We will study, analyze, and map the Awal Group’s operations, material sources and waste streams. Offcuts from the manufacturing of ducts and HVAC systems will form a palette of materials that we will upcycle through a series of fabrication exercises and design prototypes. Students will explore techniques including but not be limited to metal rolling, bending, casting, and punching. Digital algorithmic inventory matching tools, developed in the MIT ODDS & MODS material circularity curriculum, will help us design with the irregular archive of offcut materials and guide the fabrication process.

The results of the workshop will be showcased along the Pearling Path in Muharraq. During our time on the island, we will be engaging with local metal smelters and design studios, including Bahraini-Danish, Civil Architecture and Studio Anne Holtrop.

Design is a process to reach consensus. In this hybrid workshop-seminar, we will explore the core mindsets and techniques for modeling, simulating, and analyzing collaborative decision-making in conceptual or real-world design challenges. Students are encouraged to bring their own case studies and perspectives on any design topic. We will introduce a mindset of modeling and simulation, cover beginner-friendly technical topics including operation research, (algorithmic) game theory, system dynamics, and multi-AI agent learning. We will be focusing on leveraging your designer mindset, not jargon, so no prior technical experience is required.

Hybrid class, in-person attendance is welcomed! Students should bring laptop. Time negotiable under survey.

Advance sign-up required by 1/15/2025

Sites are often represented as static, empty plots of land. In reality, every site is an environment—an interconnected system shaped by ecological, cultural, and material relationships. These environments extend vertically into the sky, horizontally through soil and ecosystems, and inward to unseen processes such as microorganisms and material histories. How can experimental drawing and representation techniques reveal these complexities and reshape the way we design? 

This workshop invites participants to reimagine sites as living systems and engage in collaborative design practices. Focusing on a local, seemingly vacant lot, we will investigate the site’s temporal and spatial dynamics—tracing its layers of interaction and exploring how elements and materials influence its identity. By reframing traditional notions of scale and boundaries, we will uncover the opportunities of co-authorship amongst the environments, forces and creatures. 

The Wiesner Gallery will act as a hub for both a workshop and exhibition space. Each day, participants will gather in the gallery to experiment with prototypes, drawings, and multimedia techniques. Collaboration and play will guide the approach, creating an open and exploratory environment where games facilitate dialogue and negotiation. This collective exploration will reveal the site’s interconnected urban and architectural layers from the perspectives of diverse actors. The workshop will culminate in a public exhibition at the end of January, showcasing our collective discoveries.

The workshop will take place daily at the Wiesner Gallery at MIT. It will culminate in an exhibition, likely Jan-31-Feb 2. Students should bring their laptops to all sessions.

Advance sign-up required

It’s that day you’ve been waiting for—you’re at home, there it is, that dish you’ve been longing for, there, set up on the kitchen table. It’s the one you rarely get to enjoy but always look forward to, and as you savor it, your mind starts to wonder… whose recipe is it? How did this become your favorite meal? You start to think about the memories attached to it—how much does this meal remind you of a day in the past… or even where are most of these ingredients from, and how hard are they to find? In this two-week virtual workshop, we invite you to plan a meal for loved ones while exploring the connection between food, culture, and place. Through Mapping Recipes, you’ll delve into the kitchen table—a space where stories are passed down and identities are shared—and how it may become a site for reclaiming ancestral memory and collective identity. By the end of this class, students will use mapping as a tool to support a theoretical framework, exploring representational methods such as collage, sketches, cartography, graphs, and GIS data. Through the lens of a specific recipe, mapping will go beyond literal boundaries to represent the complexities of the USA | Mexico border. The ingredients, origins, personal stories, and cultural significance of the recipe will be mapped, followed by the presentation of an architectural narrative centered around the setting of the kitchen table. We hope you join us as we question and challenge the boundaries of culture, memory, and place, reimagining the kitchen table as a site for deeper connection and understanding.

Advance sign-up required by 1/15/2025 — contact instructor.

The workshop focuses on grammar-based structural design space exploration and the realization of bespoke design solutions through small scale models. Grammar-based structural design is implemented in a computational framework within a fully functional Rhinoceros 3D Grasshopper plugin named Libra (available on food4rhino). The tool enables the semi-automated generation of diverse, reticulated conceptual structures within predefined design domains and load conditions, all without requiring knowledge of structural mechanics. It offers a user-friendly, intuitive workflow that helps designers understand how force flows influence structural form.

Students must bring laptop to class with Rhino 8 installed.

Students in teams accepted to the MITdesignX accelerator begin work on their ventures in this intense two-week bootcamp. Participants identify the needs and problems that demonstrate the demand for their innovative technology, policy, products, and/or services. They research and investigate various markets and stakeholders pertinent to their ventures, and begin to test their ideas and thesis in real-world interviews and interactions. Subject presented in workshop format, giving teams the chance to jump-start their ventures together with a cohort of people working on ideas that span the realm of design, planning real estate, and the human environment.

This course explores the concept of resilient aging in the built environment, addressing two interconnected dimensions: the aging of people and the aging of cities and buildings that no longer meet contemporary needs. By reframing aging as both a challenge and an opportunity, the course examines strategies to understand, intervene in, and transform the built environment to better support evolving societal needs. Rather than relying solely on top-down design and planning approaches, this class emphasizes bottom-up interventions and participatory design methods to understand and engage vulnerable populations. The course approaches aging through three interrelated topics: the adaptive reuse and activation of aging urban infrastructure, the retrofitting of aging suburbs through innovative housing and real estate models, and the application of advanced urban technologies to analyze and understand resident behavior in aging and informal settlements. These topics aim to provide students with the knowledge and tools to reimagine the built environment, fostering resilience and equity for aging populations and the spaces they inhabit. The first half of each session will be lectures, providing foundational knowledge and sharing related research works, while the second half will be dedicated to discussions, allowing students to engage with the materials and collaborate on the topics.

Technology is vital for local governments to deliver services. But when technologists "move fast and break things" in the public sector, systems fail and people suffer. Governments must responsibly innovate and integrate ideas from the private sector, while safeguarding the public interest. This seminar examines how local governments and the tech sector can collaborate to best serve their short and long-term shared goals.