New Nordic Design

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course investigates the present state of design in Scandinavia, the New Nordic, as it currently unfolds. Focusing on architecture and design at all scales-from service design, product design, furniture and fashion to architecture, urban design, and infrastructure design-the course relates these areas to local traditions and cultures. It also acknowledges the importance of global connections and describes how we express and organize ourselves and our communities in the Nordic region at the beginning of the 21st century. The course will focus on Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Danish design and architecture. We will critically evaluate the relevance of regional design characteristics in the globalized world of today. Furthermore, the course will dive into the formative beginnings of design in Scandinavia in the late 19th century and the world renowned "Golden Age" of democratic Scandinavian Design in the post-World War II era from the 1950s to 1970s. Studying these eras will help to frame a better understanding of the present state of design in Scandinavia-the New Nordic. Throughout the course we will investigate the distinction between 'making'-how cultural products like architecture, design, literature, film, and food come about-and 'identity-what these cultural products mean to individuals, communities, and society. We will read and study texts on architecture and design issues, and also visit architecture and design sites in and around Copenhagen to use as case studies. We will meet practitioners involved in architecture and design and learn about how they view the world. We will work on assignments that try to bridge the gap between the world of thinking and the world of making.