Over the past two decades the prevalence of the design practice as think-tank has become an increasingly common model.
Whether this approach is borne out of survivalism amid economic crisis or it is a more intentional shift on the part of designers to generate agency in the world as thinkers not just makers, it is clear that the current generation of design practices face an imperative to organize in ways that allow them to address broader issues through a range of outlets including media, technology, visual art, journalism, branding, and politics.
For disciplines like architecture, what appears to be at stake is the need to cultivate a more proactive engagement beyond the immediate boundaries of the profession in order to drive decision making and maintain relevance.
If it is true that the traditional practice of building is simply too slow to keep up with the pace of change in private enterprise, then how has the design think-tank model increased the agility of designers in the marketplace?
What are the direct results and residual effects of these strategies? How are design thinking and research methodologies evolving?
This panel will bring together individuals from various design think-tank groups to present case studies comparing how design thinking translates to specific outputs.
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