Spring 2006
SP.722/2.722J D-Lab II: Design
Course Outline
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Class Meetings Class MW 3:30 - 5:00 {Room 4-265} Course Description D-Lab II is a design studio course in which students work on international development projects for underserved communities. The class is focused on an iterative prototyping design process, with particular attention placed on the constraints faced when designing for developing communities. Students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. Students will be exposed to many hands-on fabrication and prototyping skills relevant to product development at MIT and manufacturing in their partner community. The course will consist of hands-on labs, guest speakers, and a guided design process with reviews by experts and professionals in development and design. This course builds on SP.721, however it is not a required prerequisite. Course Goals
Teaching Staff Instructors Required Text and Readings The required text for this class is Gaviotas by Alan Weisman, which can be purchased on-line or borrowed from the D-Lab Library. In addition there are several articles and readings from other sources that will be distributed in class or can be downloaded from the D-Lab website. Course Structure The course is comprised of four main components: lectures, design team projects, lab modules and design reviews. Instructors and guest speakers will offer lectures and case studies on the following topics: the design process, design for affordability, design for sustainability, design for manufacture, design for assembly, design for reuse, design for recyclability and design for failure. Students will apply the material presented in class to their design projects. A series of lab modules will be offered, providing hands-on instruction in topics such as: welding, circuit board design, machine tools, plastics manufacturing, economics of production, computer-aided design and other topics that are particularly relevant to the design projects. There will be two design reviews where project teams present their ideas to a panel of consultants to get feedback—the first review will be a poster session, the second, oral presentations. The course will culminate with final presentations at the Museum of Science in Boston. E-mail Lists and Website There is an e-mail list for our seminar, d-lab-spring@mit.edu, which you can use to ask questions or send information of interest to the entire class. The course instructors can be reached at d-lab@mit.edu. Individual mailing lists for each design team will be made once the projects are chosen. The class website can be found at http://web.mit.edu/d-lab/. Design Team Meetings The design projects are an integral part of the class and will be done in teams of three to five students. Each group will schedule a project meeting time and will meet regularly throughout the semester with their project mentor. Grading This is a twelve-unit class: three hours a week will be spent in class, two hours will be spent in scheduled group meetings and the remaining time will be spent doing the readings, homework and design projects. Because much of the work for this class will be done during class time, attendance is essential. Students missing a class meeting should notify the instructors in advance and make arrangements to make up the work. Students who miss more than two sessions (classes or project team meetings) without making up the work will receive a reduced grade. This seminar is graded on a A/B/C/F basis, furthermore it is a class where your work is impacting the lives of people around the world and we expect an appropriate level of commitment. |
Class participation and attendance 20%
Homework assignments 15%
Design notebooks 25%
Final design/prototype 15%
Presentations 25%
