January 18, 2012

If your looking for one more outstanding class to fit into your schedule for the winter term, consider INTR 799: Mantua Community Design-Build. The course is open to students in the Architecture, Interiors, and Product Design programs. Diana Nicholas, Interiors Professor, and Andrew Cronin, Architecture Professor, will teach this interdisciplinary special topics course.

In this community outreach design-build course students will engage in a community design process and see the designs realized through a group design/build practice. Architecture, Interior Design and Product Design students will work in interdisciplinary teams. The student teams will work with faculty, clients and consultants to develop a scheme for the exterior spaces at the Presbyterian Assisted Living Facility in Mantua. This course is part of the University’s larger outreach initiative in our community. The project will include landscape refurbishment schemes, an organic garden, exterior spaces with furniture, and is also tied to the Biomedical Engineering School’s research on aging. Students will gain skills in community building, user needs and occupancy, team design, and team construction.