Domus Academy inaugurates its 25th academic year with a debate between key design world figures

Design is increasingly becoming established as a means for strategic innovation both for companies and in society: Domus Academy, which in 2007 is celebrating 25 years of activity, leads this progressive trend with its teaching and research work. In inauguration of the academic year which marks it “quarter century”, Domus Academy organised an important round table coordinated by Luca de Biase on the theme “What kind of design for the global market”.

Ron Arad, Stefano Boeri, Carlotta de Bevilacqua, Andrea Granelli, Serhan Ada and Emilio Genovesi discussed the new meanings of design, which is becoming a successful instrument to state visions deriving from company culture concretely on the global market: in many situations people talk about design-driven innovation and design-driven companies. Design is becoming established as a means by which a new culture for international management may be created: it is therefore necessary to define innovative teaching pathways which can offer a dynamic relationship between the ability to design strategic scenarios and to design products.

When introducing the round table Maria Grazia Mazzocchi, President of Domus Academy, said: “teaching design means communicating a project, and this exchange has been at the heart of all the activity at Domus Academy right from the first year. What is the secret of the success of this school, which when it was founded in 1982 was intended to operate for only 10 years? Why is it that, far from closing down at the end of its original cycle, Domus Academy is gaining ever more momentum and is spreading throughout the world? Much is due to the enthusiasm of the people who work there, but there are other reasons underlying our continuing success. Domus Academy approaches design projects with a very broad transversal vision. Unlike other cultures, the Italian approach to design aims at an overall vision that is all-encompassing and open to any idea, from a point of view deriving from the classical culture of the Italian architects who made Italian design what it is. Furthermore, Domus Academy is very attentive to all issues linked to business strategy, which it deems to be one of the specific functions of design.”

During their contributions, the participants at the round table discussed the broad theme of design from numerous points of view. Ron Arad gave his ideas on design as a subjective act. Stefano Boeri analysed “Geo Design” as a project in the global world. Carlotta de Bevilacqua outlined what relations between design-driven business and designers now involve. Andrea Granelli compared the combinations of innovation/creativity and innovation/technology.

Serhan Ada asked whether, in design too, new globalisation processes are perceived as encounters/clashes between western and eastern cultures. Emilio Genovesi summed up what the commitment of Domus Academy to research by teaching and producing strategic visions for enterprises actually involves.

Domus Academy – which Business Week has listed amongst the best European and Asian schools of design and creativity – has always been a “place” that is sensitive to globalisation and has constantly looked beyond Italian borders, thanks to a vision of design and teaching that is very much oriented towards business, realism and market development. The Academy’s ability to serve as a place where different worlds may meet to set mutual objectives and ways to achieve them is understood well and very much appreciated throughout the world: Domus Academy’s supranational vision and its proactive methodology are better able than others to face the ever more complex challenges posed by globalisation.

This awareness has led to Domus Academy’s decision to move beyond its traditional teaching venue in Milan to offer important new opportunities: in Rome Domus Academy has created a major educational “window” by setting up a MED – Master’s Degree Course in Experience Design and Cultural Management – working with IRFI (Rome Institute of Entrepreneurial Training); in Singapore, at the prestigious Nanyang Technological University, Domus Academy is creating two new Master’s Degree Courses in Product Design from August 2007 and in Business Design from 2008.

Presentation of the results obtained by the “Made in Italy Files” workshop, conducted in collaboration with Fondazione Valore Italia for Made in Italy, a permanent Italian design exhibition.

The workshop was held by the Master in Interior and Living Design course together with the Master in Business Design course, and was set up in order to create the concept design for the Made in Italy Museum, an institution that will be created in the EUR Palazzo della Civiltà in Rome.

During the first weeks there were presentations on Made in Italy disciplines ranging from art to architecture, design to fashion design and cinema to cuisine. Speakers included Umberto Croppi, Andrea Branzi, Francesco Morace and Italo Rota.

Students were also given an opportunity to meet representatives from the world of Italian commerce who could boast excellent entrepreneurial experience, including: Elisa Astori (vice-president of Driade); Andrea Ferraresi (style director for Ducati Motors); and Franco Romani (director of new projects for Perini Navi).

Students of the Master in Interior and Living Design course concentrated on studying the set-up and layout of the museum spaces around the Palazzo della Civiltà, as well as in the surrounding territory.

Students of the Master in Business Design worked on establishing the best selection method for the museum’s contents, while at the same time proposing six different use modalities for the museum’s spaces, each according to a specific target group.