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Back to school: The Public Interest Design Institute

I recently had the pleasure of attending a class on public interest deign offered by the Public Interest Design Institute and the SEED network. Now, I am normally a fairly skeptical guy. If Cameron Sinclair is the eternal optimist, I am the eternal pragmatist. I do not need to be inspired. I have already decided that I am going to devote a large chunk of my professional life to this kind of work. What I wanted out of this class was some practical advice on creating a sustainable career (read: one that does not involve selling plasma to cover the rent) in public interest design as well as techniques and tools to do what we do better. And it turns out that is exactly what I got.

The class was organized around the Harvard Business Schools Case Study Method and proved to be an excellent medium for teaching some of the lessons learned by experienced practitioners as well as relative newcomers to the field. The focus was on doing public interest design work as a profession with an emphasis on long term sustainability. The normal ‘not talked about’ topics like ethics, funding and accountability were all touched on and I walked away not only inspired but with a lot of new information to process. I plan on dropping a lot of what was taught into the global studio bag of tricks. I also got the chance to chat with some of the pioneers of the SEED network who happen to be the best practitioners of PID that I know of. Bryan Bell from Design Corps, Maurice Cox from UVA and John Cary of... well... John Cary….. Worth the price of admission right there.

We also got to see some of the great work that was recognized for SEED awards.

Mass Design Group

Butaro Hospital - Rwanda

Owe’neh Bupingeh Preservation Plan

Atkin Olshin Scade Architects

 

 

Onyx Construction Design

The Dreamtree Project, Taos, NM

I would highly recommend this class to anyone working in the public interest field. While it was geared toward designers (and was attended by mostly architects at UT); it would be a great class for anyone whose work involves communities in the public realm. Program managers, fundraisers, public officials, community organizers…. All would benefit from this class. Luckily enough, there is going to be one in Seattle in June. I did not know that when I signed up for the one in Austin but I have no complaints…. Mostly because it was 85 and sunny in Austin during the class. My wife, who was taking care of our little man for the five days I was gone, does have some complaints about that though….

If you are interested in the class, check out the Public Interest Design Institute.

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