R3Design

Designing FOR the Environment

Winter 2009: What's Coming Up?

Welcome back, everyone. Winter 2009 is shaping up to be an exciting term for R3Design. Here's what we've got going on:

 R3Design Learning

What is environmental design? How can we design our lives to be more ecologically sensitive? How do we come up with new ways of doing things? These are all topics that we are going to be addressing in our Meetings this term. Join us, every Thursday starting January 22nd from 5:30 - 6:30 PM in SLC 2135.

Design Competition

 Our major event for the Winter Term will be a day-long design competition on March 7th. We will be challenging teams of students to design the solution to a specific waste management problem. The designs will be used as the basis for a R3Design entry in the 2010 IDEA Awards.

Those are the main things. Keep an ear out for R3Design social events that will happen throughout the term as well as further details about the competition. Come visit our booth at Club's Day if you want to chat or e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to join the e-mail list.

 

What's this “R3” Business

R3Design (pronounced Redesign) is the fusion of the organization's two driving ideas. Bruce Mau said of his Massive Change exhibit that “It is not about the world of design. It's about the design of the world.” Nearly everything that we see, use or touch was designed at some point in history. From the pens and paper that we use to write to the very idea and form of formal education – both of which can trace the origins of their design to Ancient Egypt – almost everything has been designed and redesigned at some point in history.

R3Design recognises this notion and the opportunity it provides. While nearly everything is designed, few things were designed with their impact on the environment in mind. The R3 portion of R3Design tells of R3Design's focus on the environment and the three R's that are the focus of waste reduction: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Not that those three strategies are the sole focus of R3Design's environmental design effort, rather they are a symbol of R3Design's commitment to sound environmental design.

 

The Basics

The design revolution is coming. What is this design revolution we speak of? Simply put, it is designing more of the good and less of the bad. The “good” is the stuff the preserves and enhances the natural capital locally and around the world, creates economic, social and natural wealth and generally enhances the quality of life. The “bad” is the waste that degrades the air, land and water around us and upsets local and global ecological balances.

R3Design exists as a forum for students, faculty and members of the community to join in the design of a better world. The design challenges we undertake may be social, techinical and political, but they all aim to create a more vibrant and equitable world around us.

 

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