Crossing the Line: The 2010 D-Crit Conference, Moderated by Kurt Andersen

On April 30, The School of Visual Arts MFA Design Criticism Department presented “Crossing the Line: The 2010 D-Crit Conference,” organized by graduating D-Crit students. Read more ›

Website Launched: CCA Day Camp Led by Frederico Duarte and Becky Quintal, July 2010

This July, D-Crit alumnae Frederico Duarte and Becky Quintal founded and led a week-long day camp program at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, “Putting Architecture in Its Place” for sixteen burgeoning architecture buffs aged fifteen to seventeen. For five days, these participants explored arguments over architecture, focusing on selected architectural projects. With help from Becky, Fred and CCA they share the fruits of their labor online: http://www.cca.qc.ca/daycamp.

D-Crit 2010 Conference on Abitare

Barbara Eldredge reports for International design magazine Abitare’s Web site on “Crossing the Line: the 2010 D-Crit Conference.” View the piece here, which offers an illustrated breakdown of presentations by the event’s keynote speakers and graduating D-Crit students.

Glass House Fellows Emily Leibin and Molly Heintz Help Launch Online Forum

Today the Philip Johnson Glass House, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site, officially launches Glass House Conversations, a website designed in conjunction with the School of Visual Arts.

D-Crit alumni Emily Leibin and current second-year student Molly Heintz are this year’s Philip Johnson Glass House fellows, who have been working over the summer to launch the site. Read Molly’s article on Architizer from July 19 announcing Glass House Conversations and the online discussions it fosters. Read more ›

Busy Summer for D-Crit Students and Alumni

School’s out for summer, but SVA MFA Design Criticism students are not just sitting around watching the World Cup (well, maybe just a couple of games). Students in the Class of 2011 have embarked on summer internships and fellowships at respected magazines, museums and organizations. They are writing regular Web articles for Metropolis, interning with curators at The Museum of the City of New York and with the editor at Change Observer, developing public programming at The Philip Johnson Glass House, and researching for Judy Wert & Company. Additionally, D-Crit students are contributing to online publications such as Stylepark.com, Core77 and Fast Company, as well as to their own blogs and magazines, and participating in D Flux, a research collaborative in Detroit. Read more ›

Thesis Ideas Hatching

The D-Crit Class of 2011 will be researching and refining their thesis topics this summer. Students are honing in on around a variety of ideas, which so far include: sound’s affect on the experience of public space, how designers brand themselves (and why it matters), the pop star as designed object (think: Lady Gaga), urban regeneration in Detroit as envisioned by local residents, the black arts movement, playground environments and their creative effect on children, design improvisation and tinkering in India, the impermanence of things, the design of licensed children’s characters, and how form often follows emotion over function. Read more ›

Ralph Caplan honored as Design Mind by 2010 National Design Awards, Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Ralph Caplan, esteemed D-Crit faculty member, was announced as this year’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards recipient in the Design Mind category. The award recognizes visionary individuals or firms that have affected a shift in design thinking or practice through writing, research and scholarship.

In previous years, other D-Crit faculty members have been awarded this honor: Michael Bierut in 2008 and Paola Antonelli in 2006. Several guest lecturers in the Design Criticism MFA department have been winners or finalists in various categories, including Antenna Design (winner for Product Design in 2008), Bruce Nussbaum (Design Mind finalist in 2008), Milton Glaser (2004 Lifetime Achievement award winner) and Ayse Birsel (2002 Product Design finalist) among them.