Cycle 2: design option

Thus, the specificity of the training lies partly in the practice of a field.

Confronted with diverse project contexts rooted in reality, students are encouraged to observe, analyse, and investigate the contexts approached in order to be as close as possible to the protagonists and the specificities of the different areas*. In addition, a practical workshop offers a space to cultivate a spirit of ingenuity and inventiveness in order to think and to create operative forms which are able to make the world more liveable in everyday life, whether it involves designing the signs, the objects or the spaces.

*This investigation practice is as much a methodological contribution as a strategy for integration into the economic and social network.

Spaces, objects and ecosystems specialisation

In the second cycle, the Design option with a specialisation in Spaces, objects and ecosystems trains designers who wish to carry out unique design research in a specific context. Students are required to design and carry out prospective projects in consideration of complex ecosystems, according to an approach that takes shape in one or more fields: urban design, space design, object design, design of information or awareness-raising tools, by enhancing the resources available in the areas to which they are attached.

Taking care of the environments we live in involves considering the material conditions of existence – questioning the modes of production, the sources of energy, the modes of food production, the urban organisations and the modes of transport on which we depend. This objective requires a new attitude towards the contexts approached and a particular attention to the specificities of the areas, to the practices of the inhabitants, to the organisations at work, to the interactions between the living and non-living elements of an ecosystem.

The teaching is based on the contribution of specific knowledge (theoretical, historical, and technical) and adapted methodologies (tools of analysis and field investigation, consultation, collective creation) which lead to the formulation of a critical outlook that enables the implementation of an appropriate response.

The curriculum includes theoretical courses, a project workshop (choice of 2 studios), an introduction to artistic research workshop (AIRA, choice of 2), research and personal projects (research journal, anthropological investigation tools, spatial installation…), as well as time dedicated to professionalisation (internships, workshops, participation in exhibitions, competitions, and other events).

Consult the study program (in French)

At the end of the 2nd cycle, the DNSEP option in Design with the specialisation in Spaces, Objects, Ecosystems delivered by the isdaT is recognised by the CFAI – French Council of Interior Architects.