Dual City Courses - London Barcelona

Roger Arquer and Mauro Costa

Who should attend?

This course will be split into two halves. The first will take place in London, and the second in Barcelona. The course is aimed towards final year design students, or recent graduates, to introduce different ways to approach concept generation. The two parts will the taught by different tutors, each with very different backgrounds. Consequently, their approach and process of generating concepts will be also different, but both extremely valid.

• The first part will be more hands-on, mocking up in tangible techniques and materials.
• The second part will be digital, software based and nature inspired.

The students will have the opportunity to learn and compare these different methodologies for advancement in concept generation.

You may have already have studied design and you should be able to communicate your ideas through simple sketches or models. This short course will introduce a fresh an intuitive approach for a designer with hunger for personal creative growth

To get the most out of the Barcelona course element of the course, students must have a medium/advanced knowledge on modeling software. Please note that the course in London will not use computers.

London (9 day course)

Monday 25 June to Thursday 5 July 

Variations concept generation for new products

This course starts in London, with the aim to introduce the student to a concept generation technique based on making variations around a specific object.

This is a methodology widely used by the tutor of this first part of the course. By exploring as many variations as possible of one object - making small mock ups or full size 3D mock ups of the picked object - we allow ourselves to come up with a broad range of unexpected possibilities, and among them a feasible new design opportunity could emerge.

Students will select a type of object and conduct a research before starting concept generation. Once absorbed within the selected subject, students will be asked to start concept generating in 3D, rather than 2D. The challenge: to extract as many ideas as possible, even if they seem banal. Different materials and processes can be used as long as the student communicates properly the intentions of the concepts. Once finished, the student will have to summarize and explain the project: original intentions, process, achievements and flaws.

Discussion and communication among students will be essential to create a supportive environment for critique.

The course will be supported by visits to design studios (such as Okay Studio and Max Lamb in London) to learn about the design practice scene and how this can affect the concept generation approach.  

Topics covered

• Concept generation based on the technique of variations
• Experience London and understand its design scene
• Use London culture as a background for inspirational ideas
• Rationalise the methodology used during the creative process
• Communicate and present ideas properly.

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Independent Travel (4 days)

Friday 6 July to Monday 9 July

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Barcelona (9 day course)

Tuesday 10 July to Friday 20 July

Biomimicry Concepts for New Products

Once in Barcelona, the course will introduce the student to product design using the Biomimicry or Bionic working methodology concept based on the systems and methods you find in nature applied to disciplines like architecture, design and technology. Here we will be working on design concepts based on the solutions existing in the natural processes that surround us. The main principal is that natural mechanisms are based on minimal consumptions and maximum efficiency.

The student should analyze and practice the relations of biology with design, with the aim to stimulate and develop the creativity of the future designer, promoting the research process and the improvement and innovation of the design technology. This will provide a global vision of the project, as well as tools and useful methodologies for use during the design process.

The course has a workshop structure; the first phase will be a specific analysis of a natural element up to the comprehension of all the mechanisms, structures and/or functions. Once  we have synthesized the biological principles of the nature model, we will   evaluate the ideas that the studied structures suggest. Finally, we will apply the selected ones that they allow to face a specific design problem and/or the development of a specific project.

The main goal is the acquisition of skills, such as, interdisciplinary team work, sustainability, innovative and creative capacity, development of the creative thought and the promotion of the research process. The learning, analysis and synthesis of the natural world with the knowledge and use of strategies, materials or natural structures in the design are keys for the innovation and the sustainability.

Topics covered

• Product design and idea generation based on the principles of nature
• Presentation skills and new technology model making (rapid prototyping)
• Latest-generation technology, software and materials and their influence on new product concepts and prototyping

London - Roger Arquer is an Associated Lecturer at Central Saint Martin’s and Camberwell College in London. He is an external examiner ESDI, Barcelona. He holds a Master in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (2005). Born in Barcelona, Arquer graduated from ESDI (Escola Superior de Disseny Industrial) in 1998. Shortly after graduating, he moved to New York, where he worked for several designers and artists. He set up his own design practice in London in 2005 and since then has worked for companies such as Royal VKB, Bosa, Eno, Thorsten Van Elten, Muji, and Mathmos.

Barcelona - Mauro Costa is a Professor in Gallaecia University and Visiting Professor at ESARQ-UIC, ELISAVA, UPC and IaaC in Barcelona and FA-UTL and Lusíada in Lisbon. He holds a Ph.D., a Master in History of Architecture and Design, and a Master in Genetic Architectures: the New Cybernetic Design and the New Ecological Design. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture from FA-UTL, Portugal. His research concerns the analysis of functional analogies between biology and architecture with special emphasis on mass customization based in sustainable processes that can be materialized using CAD/CAM methods.