Atlas: Mapping Design- and Architect Studerents' Aesthetic and Visual Preferences

The overall purpose of our research is to investigate young designers and architects design processes and methods and way of thinking in different parts of the world, by conducting a series of identical workshops at selected design universities in among others Taiwan, China, Brazil, South Africa, India and Russia. 

The focus of the research project is to compare and map cultural differences, similarities and preferences in young designers and architects design approach in order to understand how globalization and localization influence design and architecture. It is also the purpose to investigate how different teaching methods influence the way the young designers and architects understand the practice and conceptions of design.

The focus of the workshops is collecting and organizing visual research within the themes of body, home, urban space, identity, and cultural codes. The workshops will be documented, analysed and compared in order to get a better understanding of how, and if, different universities’ learning methods and cultural backgrounds influence the design approaches, practices and conceptions. In this way we hope to broaden the importance of design and architecture and to gain knowledge and understanding of how design and architecture is conceived, practiced and taught, furthermore we hope to pave the way for discussions and exchange on these topics and perspectives between design students and designers cross boundaries.

The purpose and perspective of the mapping is to compile comparable data and propagate best practices from selected design universities in order to both maintain and strengthen local differences in design practices and thinking but also to cross borders and find methods for collaborations within design and architecture praxis and research.