Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

This presentation and paper examine a pedagogical project examining how creative expression and meaningful transfer can occur between two allied yet distinct disciplines: poetry and the built environment. The project uses the expressive potential of craft and image inherent in the original and destination disciplines to identify possible ideation pathways. It focuses on techniques to increase the expressive potential of a designer’s intended message by expanding the opportunities to engage in multiple and diverse modes of articulation considered “other” to one’s current disciplinary practice. To facilitate disciplinary cross-dialogue, the construction of a transference methodology is necessary to help designers tap into creative possibilities outside of their respective territories. The project proposes translation, interpretation, and transliteration as a trajectory for understanding the operative practices of both expressive modes. This process can assist designers in uncovering alternative sources of creative influence and ideation while competently defining engagement, experimentation, and development techniques. Opportunities and challenges arise when coordinating the transference process concerning fidelity to original and destination expressive modes. How much loyalty or deviation is necessary to communicate a message or intention? The author developed a design studio around this process to test this hypothesis. A review of design studio work demonstrates how the system could accommodate diverse design intentions, including indigenous oral traditions, universal design, mental health, and childhood education. The author reflects on the student’s success and challenges, the maturation and evolution of how students approached design challenges, and the potential the process might have in other interdisciplinary creative scenarios.