Conference article

The contemporary state of Interior Design education is being affected by changes in the professional realm that requires more and more a user/community-centered design to prevent failure in the use phase and to increase the citizen participation in designing their own city-environment. The modern design curriculum is structured to educate students who will go into the field and serve clients and employers effectively and also can lead the market as a change-maker (Foti, 2004). Within the School and Department of Design at the Politecnico di Milano, the POLIMI DESIS Lab has been developing some innovative interdisciplinary programs, crossing the area of Interior and Spatial design with Service design, through Design thinking, user and community centered design. This paper will present two case studies at the Politecnico di Milano that addressed different areas of concern but were underpinned by a shared approach to Design projects that participants are able to inhabit. Through these innovative interdisciplinary programs, findings are presented as the elaboration of a Design Thinking framework that can contribute to many other design disciplines.

design thinking, interior design education, co-design