In recent years, advanced technologies have increasingly entered the educational field to enhance student engagement and learning opportunities. Among these, 3D printing stands out as a particularly transformative tool, reshaping how objects are conceptualized and produced. In education, it offers a practical medium for introducing fundamental design principles, integrating technical constraints with creative problem-solving. This hands-on approach fosters key skills such as critical thinking, creativity, design thinking, and practical abilities, with applications across disciplines. To explore its pedagogical potential, an intensive three-day orientation course titled Basics and Principles of Rapid Prototyping in 3D Printing was delivered to 192 Italian high school students with no prior experience in design or 3D printing. The course employed a learning-by-doing methodology, combining interactive lectures with hands-on activities. Students redesigned everyday objects based on 3D printing constraints while acquiring skills in sketching, object dimensioning, 3D modelling, and post-production. Learning outcomes were assessed using a Retrospective Pre-test, which indicated signif- icant progress. By the end of the course, students demonstrated the ability to conceptu- alize, model, and print functional objects, highlighting 3D printing’s value as an accessible entry point to design education for beginners.
This paper explores the relationship between design and production as a space for innovation, reinterpreting crafting not as a nostalgic practice, but as a design attitude capable of guiding industrial processes through craft-driven design methodologies. The study is based on a case analysis conducted at Atelier Vierkant, a Belgian family-owned enterprise specialising in design research on mass-produced artisan ceramics. This context provides an ideal observatory for examining how industry can both preserve and regenerate craftsmanship within a space where design and production coexist and influence each other. Adopting a focused ethnographic methodological approach that combines contextual inquiry and action-reflection practices, the research investigates how embodied knowledge, belonging, and intergenerational learning acquire value through collaboration and spatial proximity. The findings reveal that, within an organisational model in which design and production coexist in the same physical and temporal space, an immediate and informal dialogue arises between designers and craftsmen, who constantly renegotiate their roles and boundaries of responsibility. What emerges is a widespread co-authorship, in which making becomes a cognitive and morphogenetic process, and craftsmanship a strategic resource for cultural and productive innovation.
The scientific publishing of design research is central to the dissemination of academic design knowledge, but at the same time it mirrors how the design discipline has evolved overtime. In a changing publishing ecosystem, also due to the emerging technologies and the establishment of open access publishing platforms and infrastructures, editorial practices within scientific journals are undergoing revision, questioning values and paradigms beyond the increase and acceleration of publishing, as well as improvements in the quality of publication. This paper reports a choral conversation that has been held during a Panel within the international conference IASDR 2023, among five design scholars expert in the field: Eleonora Lupo, Panel chair and coordinator of the SID-Società Italiana di Design national research group Pro-Des-Scientific production of design, Renato Bernasconi, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, editor in chief of Diseña, Elena Maria Formia, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Deputy Editor in chief of diid – Disegno Industriale Industrial Design, Edu Jaques, Unisinos, editorial assistant of the Strategic Design Research Journal and Peter Lloyd, Delft University of Technology, former editor in chief of Design Studies and editor in chief of Designing. From a plurality of backgrounds and different geographical provenance, the conversation highlights, using an experimental and non-linear dialogic and compositional approach towards authors and topics, some of the more urgent issues and challenges to promote plurality and equity in publishing, including publishing formats and quality assessment of publication. The paper does not provide definitive conclusions but a collective reflection on how localised practices can interpret globally relevant concepts.
More-than-human approaches in design require openness to experimentation and debate, highlighting the need to rethink our approaches, methods, and tools for making and designing. This paper explores what it means to make and design in a plural world, where both human and non-human entities actively participate in creative processes. Drawing on insights from the design-led and interdisciplinary WOLB Wollelab project in South Tyrol, Italy – combining mountain wool (often wasted in tones), open-design, digital fabrication, and craft techniques – we examine how local wool production can be reimagined through a more-than-human perspective. The research methodologies include workshops, ethnographic inquiry, participant observation, interviews, hands-on felting experiments, prototyping, and testing to engage with the entities involved in the making process. Findings reveal how plurality in making emerges through diverse attitudes, approaches, frictions, agreements, and disagreements among human and non-human participants. Drawing on the insights, we introduce three conceptual tools – thing ego, thing self, and silent pluralism – within the framework of agonistic plural making, offering ways to navigate relational and often conflictual dynamics in collaborative design. These conceptual tools serve as invitations rather than fixed constructs, aiming at guiding designers and researchers to attend better to thing agency, and engage ethically, inclusively, and critically with the complex entanglements of plural making.
Design and problem-solving have typically gone hand in hand. A key component to many, if not most, design projects is a rigorous process of problem-defining, iterations of solutions, validation (or invalidation) of said solutions, and the ultimate goal of solving said problem. The limitations of the school setting create a situation in which many solutions to problems are highly speculative and difficult to verify. While making and hands-on skills are core components of many design curricula, the actual role of making in design pedagogy seems misunderstood. Could the benefit of these skills, if taught properly, be the learning of problem-solving through experience and rapid validation? A myriad of problems present themselves in any given woodworking and designing for wood project. What types of joints should be used? What size should they be? How will the parts come out of the board? How to hold certain parts during certain operations, and so on. Through a case study of a project at the University of Cincinnati, this paper explores woodworking, and in particular, joinery and machine use in the context of student designs, as a means of defining and solving problems, and an avenue for rapidly validating said solutions. The knowledge gained by students in these projects not only develops abilities and craft and hones their ability to solve problems, but translates very smoothly into designing for and working with a wide array of other materials on a wide array of topics.
This contribution is part of the author’s doctoral research, which investigates the socio-cultural value of the upholstered product Made in Italy (MII), considering it not only as a utilitarian good but as a cultural artifact capable of incorporating and generating shared meanings. Through a qualitative analysis of icons of Italian upholstered design, including Le Bambole and Camaleonda, considered representative for their ability to maintain aesthetic, design, and symbolic relevance over time, the paper offers a critical reflection on the role of form and materiality as vehicles of value in contemporary design. It suggests that the re-semantization of design must proceed through an approach that acknowledges the centrality of culture, social values, memory, and the connection with place. From this perspective, MII is not merely a productive model but a strategy of signification capable of counteracting commodification through objects that endure both materially and culturally. The theoretical framework intertwines material culture, design semiotics, and reflections on the role of design as a meaning-making practice. In particular, the paper examines how these iconic products have been able to transcend mere utilitarian function, becoming instruments of narration, expressions of identity, memory, and social belonging, thereby providing a solid foundation for reflections useful to contemporary sustainable and meaningful design.
Recent years have seen a growing tendency for designers to create and display work in response to heritage sites. While such projects often foreground a contrast between old and new, this paper explores how the idea of the polytemporal – the blending of past, present, and future practices – can underpin more sympathetic and sustainable approaches to design within historic contexts. Originally developed by archaeologist Michael Shanks as part of an archaeological imagination, the polytemporal encourages creative engagement with historic sites alongside traditional scholarship. We adapt this concept to inform contemporary design practices that engage with heritage and craft traditions. Drawing on our experience of staging exhibitions in collaboration with English Heritage, a national heritage body, we use specific artefacts and practices to illustrate a polytemporal sensibility. Case studies include Material & Memory at Brinkburn Priory (July-October 2024) and Make & Mend at Belsay Hall (from September 2025). These projects demonstrate how new works can draw on historic materials and practices while employing contemporary techniques and technologies. We argue that such approaches foster a dialogical engagement with heritage, renewing threatened crafts and offering alternative methodologies to support future making. The paper is grounded in practice-based research and combines insights from the authors’ own work with critical evaluation of other participants’ contributions.
This article explores knitting design as a practice of social generativity, emphasizing how the wider process around the act of “making” goes beyond mere material production to become a powerful tool for building relationships, communities, and social capital. Starting from a theoretical framework through the results of experimental research, it examines the cultural, ethical, and methodological significance of knitting in vulnerable social contexts, interpreting the technique as a generative action able to create a “social fabric” through participatory practices. The article presents the exhibition The Five Knots of Well-being, one of the outcomes of the Methexis project, funded by the Polisocial Award 2023, which used mathematical models and narrative methods to represent social ties in San Vittore prison’s Young Adults section. The exhibition provided an interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data into multisensory physical patterns and sound, fostering reflection on the ethical meaning of making. Knitting emerges as a tool for communication, mediation, and inclusion, embodying social networks and fostering awareness of marginalized realities, linked to responsible, socially engaged design.
Design practice confronts a critical tension: while creative capabilities have expanded dramatically, designers face growing responsibility to avoid unnecessary production in an oversaturated material world. This challenge requires reconceptualizing Design and Making beyond production activities, but as methods of inquiry, reflection, and civic engagement. Drawing from a designerly ways of knowing, this contribution examines how design knowledge emerges through iterative making processes rather than existing a priori, where solutions and problem understanding co-evolve. This empirical, tactile knowledge is inherently contextual, developing within specific environments such as artisanal workshops, factories, and more recently, collaborative spaces like makerspaces and Fab Labs. These environments function as relational infrastructures that democratize design capabilities while fostering collective agency, aligning individual creativity with shared challenges. Given the rapid integration of generative AI across design fields, this paper investigates how AI might amplify human capacities within makerspace contexts. Current AI applications in product design range from performance-driven geometry generation to AI-assisted ideation through image, video, and 3D generation tools. These developments have foreshadowed the emergence of completely new materialities enabled by digital fabrication. However, these applications reveal significant limitations: current probabilistic AI models lack a robust understanding of physical reality, often producing superficial or misleading results that require critical human interpretation. Through analysis of current AI capabilities and makerspace practices, we examine technical, cultural, and ethical challenges of AI integration, with particular attention to preserving and valorising the knowledge and the processes that define maker communities.
In this paper, the authors reflect on a photographic collection of more than 150 images of objects considered solutions to everyday problems, made by anonymous creators around Greece. They discuss the space occupied by Do It Yourself (DIY) culture and objects produced via this making mindset in the current state of design discourse. They claim that, in a world of overprocessed solutions and black-box designed products, these objects illustrate the natural tendency for humans to test and understand their competence and surroundings. The objects in the collection came via an open call to photographers, showcasing artefacts that use ingenuity, humour, and available resources in response to everyday needs. Additionally, the images expose a transparency rarely witnessed by users of highly designed products, occupying the liminal space between uniformity and uniqueness, timelessness and trend, planet and production, access and availability, need and materials. They raise questions in regard to understanding what luxury, craftsmanship, knowledge and ingenuity can mean at the dawn of a new world, where artificial intelligence is an outsourcing tool for human thinking and open design an alternative approach for production. In this light, the authors contemplate whether the act of DIY today is an act of rebellion, activism and resistance against the prevailing production-consumption paradigm and whether DIY designers are the agents of change desperately needed.
Designing and making are intertwined and interdependent activities. Both encompass a broad spectrum of processes and methods, from hand-sketching to rapid physical modelling, and from digital rendering to computer simulation modelling. Designers and makers typically navigate between modes of construing (ways of thinking) and modes of constructing(ways of making) in dynamic interplay. Designing and making are essentially ways of thinking and knowing. Both link physical, societal, emotional, environmental, and human-centred experiences in the creation of concrete and virtual realities. The discourse of Design has long held a focus on material output and formal characteristics in design, while recently publications are examining themes of performance, user experience, circularity, open-access systems-thinking, and user-interface.
How long does a house last? In an era characterized by a constant evolution of relations and societal norms, the essence of dwelling undergoes a profound transformation. Permanence and stability have defined our dwelling culture for centuries, yet architecture has always incorporated elements of lightness, flexibility, nomadism and mobility. This is more than ever the case today. The concept of mobile spaces worldwide revolves around accommodating specific needs through relocation, enabling the comparison and comprehension of how various environments impact society and shape unique demands among their inhabitants.
In a society characterised by increasing fluidity and the ability to cross borders even for temporary living solutions, people increasingly use the objects that constitute their everyday lives as elements of psychological continuity. Furniture represents a special category, as it gives life to the home by fulfilling a practical and symbolic function, preserving a personal narrative in times of housing transition. Therefore, the article explores the relationship between furniture and mobile living, highlighting solutions such as products, services and business models from the furniture sector that facilitate the transportability, accessibility, and adaptability of furniture in a circular perspective. The research adopts an exploratory and qualitative approach, and through multiple case studies, solutions that adopt circular strategies and business models are analysed, distinguishing hard and soft solutions, acting on the product or through services. The analysis reveals an evolving sector whose solutions seek to meet the needs of a society on the move, promoting light- weight, disassemblable or adaptable objects while at the same time taking into account the needs of the planet through circular solutions that facilitate the reuse or exchange of furniture. The research highlights the need to rethink furniture design not only in functional terms but also as a vehicle for inclusion, resilience and environmental sustainability, proposing a design vision oriented towards change.
The nautical sector has experienced significant growth, driven by technological advancements, evolving customer expectations, and increasing demand for luxury experiences. However, this expansion raises concerns about its environmental impact, particularly in the design of yachts as temporary and mobile living spaces. Their impermanent nature calls for design approaches that minimize environmental impact while ensuring long-term efficiency and resource optimization. In this context, Life Cycle Design (LCD) enables to integrate sustainability throughout all stages of a product’s life cycle, contributing to the advancement of current practices within the sector. This article presents the initial outcomes of an Industrial PhD research project focused on the integration of LCD principles into yacht design. The study explores the applicability of existing LCD methods and tools, analysing their effectiveness in fostering sustainability within the development of complex products. Results suggest that while current LCD approaches show considerable potential for the nautical sector, they require significant adaptation to meet its specific structural and functional characteristics. By identifying key gaps and challenges, this study lays the foundation for refining LCD strategies tailored to yacht design. It contributes to the development of more sustainable approaches to designing mobile living spaces at sea and advances the discourse on sustainability in complex products.
In recent years, the environmental impact of manufacturing practices has come under increasing scrutiny, particularly in the context of mobile and temporary living. As new forms of habitation emerge in response to social, economic, and climatic transformations, the demand for sustainable, and adaptable design solutions grows accordingly. This is especially relevant in transient housing scenarios, whether driven by necessity or choice, where the temporality of the built environment must not compromise long-term ecological responsibility. This paper investigates the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) to support a sustainable transition in the design and production of mobile dwellings. Through the analysis of recent case studies, ranging from emergency shelters to floating architectures and recreational vehicles, this technology is explored as a key enabler of waste-conscious and versatile design applications. A recent project funded by PNRR MICS (Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile) is introduced, exploring strategies to enhance flexibility and environmental sustainability in yacht component design through AM. The outcomes of the project are not intended to remain confined to the nautical sector alone but rather envision scenarios of innovation across the broader landscape of contemporary living, where concepts of fluidity and impermanence must necessarily align with the guiding principles of sustainable transition.
The International Space Station (ISS), traveling at 28,000 kilometers per hour, is an unlikely example of a dwelling on the move. Drawing on a research framework that views outerspace and Earth as a single cosmic continuum, City As A Spaceship (CAAS) introduces the concept of habitats in environmental extremes, such as space, as a metaphor for today’s urban dwelling issues. Cities must be sustainable and resilient, navigating shared conditions like density, confined spaces, complex infrastructure, resource recycling, energy efficiency, digital connectivity, and the implications of geopolitical instability. This submission focuses on “cities on the edge” – those situated at the intersection of land, water, and atmosphere. Roughly 5 billion people live within 400 km of a coastline and below 800 meters above sea level, in regions particularly vulnerable as climate change accelerates rising sea levels and impacts access to essential resources. Building on Folke and colleagues’ resilience framework (2016), we emphasize the importance of design that not only ensures habitability but also supports adaptiveness. CAAS’ approach focuses on three design principles: scale, impermanence/decoupling, and transportability and draws insights through case studies; including the ISS and terrestrial analogue habitat projects. By balancing technology, environment, and the social, these are examples of multimodal resilience via strategies we term “grown, sewn, blown, and hewn”.
The contribution aims to identify a new paradigm for living development expressing one of the most crucial challenges of our time, the need for a solidary convergence between the two inescapable instances of innovation and sustainability. Ugo La Pietra asserted, “to inhabit is to be everywhere at home” (2019). It is within this spirit that the Abito Mediterraneo project was conceived at the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, and, since 2020, further developed within the Planet Life Design program at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia. More than a hammock was the payoff indicated to the students to work on the project and the creation of hammocks, as wearable refuges of peace, designed to be dismantled and carried through journeys of hope and uncertainty and utopian movement. Moreover, in accordance with the guidelines of ecodesign themes, made with recycled materials, support elements, ropes, lacing, and hooks from forgotten objects, ready to be thrown away, yet transformed into new artifacts. The hammock, but also other small dismountable artifacts, thus become an expression of a new social and environmental sustainability, as an offshoot, grafts, inclusions for play, rest, leisure, and break aimed at improving the personal and social well-being of human beings, in relation to life ‘for and on’ the Planet.
Nomadism is a continuously evolving phenomenon, stretching from prehistoric migrations to present-day digital communities. This paper traces historical evolution to situate modern digital nomadism within a continuum of design responses to mobility. This paper traces the trajectory of nomadic practices, exploring how motivations, such as survival, trade, and self-actualization, have remained consistent over time. This study employed a multi-method qualitative and quantitative design: (1) eight semi-structured interviews with self-identified nomads (aged 22–38, balanced by gender); (2) digital ethnography of 100 social-media artefacts gathered Jan-Mar 2024 across LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and Facebook; (3) desk review of historical and contemporary literature; (4) and a digital survey of 20 self-identified nomads (aged 18 to 50, balanced by gender). The analysis investigates how intentional mobile living design can foster stability and community. It also examines whether modern nomadism represents an act of escape or a meaningful evolution in dwelling practices. In today’s fluid, technology-driven world, mobile living can be a voluntary pursuit of autonomy or a socio-economic necessity. Traditional nomadic communities moved for resources influenced by seasonality, while contemporary nomadism often drives individuals in search of freedom, belonging, and personal growth. This research analyzes the motivations of various nomads, including digital nomads, seasonal nomads, and trade-driven nomads, and their impact on local populations, raising questions about whether mobility provides stability or fosters disconnection. This paper explores how contemporary nomadism navigates the tension between stability and impermanence, emphasizing the transformative role of technology in redefining what it means to dwell.
The project addresses crucial environmental and climate challenges by offering innovative, sustainable, and adaptable housing solutions, specifically designed for fragile ecosystems like the area surrounding Lake Massaciuccoli (Lucca, Italy). The project focuses on creating modular amphibious housing units that seamlessly blend with their natural environment, promoting a resilient and forward-thinking model of urbanization. These housing units are designed with flexibility in mind, adapting to both water and land settings, making them suitable for a wide range of geographic and climatic conditions. The core of the project lies in the use of cutting-edge biomaterials and IoT-based technologies to achieve the nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) standard. These advancements contribute to an efficient, eco-friendly design that reduces energy consumption while maintaining optimal living conditions. The project also addresses the growing demand for sustainable tourism infrastructures that are capable of withstanding extreme weather events. Inspired by the concept of amphibious living, the modular units echo the dual existence of land and water creatures, allowing them to adapt to the ever-changing environmental conditions. This approach emphasizes the temporary and transient nature of our presence on Earth, aligning with the broader ethos of minimizing human impact on ecosystems. The project embodies a vision for the future of architecture that combines adaptability, sustainability, and technological innovation to meet today’s and tomorrow’s housing needs.
Contemporary nomadism is not limited to digital nomads, and can be motivated by work, monetary and social circumstances that do not cancel the need for a home: a physical and spatial context, foreign to the material detachment imposed by digitalism. The article will address the opposite of this later stance, in which dwellers struggle with the lack of identity when they deal with the absence of a home in which their personality is reflected (in the spatial layout and objects defining it). Something absent in digital nomadism, in which detachment is an inherent feature. This identity is anchored in the possibility of choice – space, objects, affections – which collides with the nomadic need for impermanence and ephemerality. We will dwell in architecture, design and art in search of a methodology capable of subverting the anonymity underlying nomadism and together defining a home: mobile spaces that move with the dweller or static spaces that suit different uses and expectations in the practical and sensory use of space; furniture encased in architecture or collapsible and portable; dematerialization and alternative media in contemporary art as means of expression. The purpose is to define a joint intervention practice which will allow the contemporary nomad to benefit from a physical but also sensory home, as in a sedentary dweller’s house, whose life remains as a legitime reference to those who need to be on the move.
