Annual Charrette
During the first week of school, students become immersed in the interdisciplinary design atmosphere through are initiated through a 30-hour design challenge known as the charrette—a design education tradition.
The charrette engages students from each field by assigning one student representative from each discipline into a design group.
The design challenge, which always has a community connection, is kept top secret until announced at the Charrette kickoff on Wednesday morning, with the final project due Thursday afternoon.
At the end of the week, a panel of judges critiques each team's proposal. First place wins bragging rights, resume material, and a cash award.
2010 - Design Students Define 'Home'
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Charrette Team Submission
The 12th Annual Fall Design Charrette was the kickoff event for fall semester. The 48-hour competition grouped design students into twenty-eight teams and challenged them to explore their perception of home. They were asked to consider their own experiences in Spokane, either as long-time residents or new arrivals, and the experiences of other groups living in the community. As a result of their explorations, each team constructed a three-dimensional representation of their concept.
"We asked the students to consider how the idea of home—our home, others' home, or the lack of home—defines us individually and collectively," said Bryan Orthel, a doctor of design student at WSU Spokane. "We are really excited to see how the students turned abstract ideas about ‘home’ into physical forms.”
Read more here
2009—Design Institute Fall Charrette: e.vocative [S]itations
Following a long standing tradition of the Design Institute, the fall semester opened with a design charrette to introduce students to the city of Spokane and to each other. The term charrette refers to a collaborative activity in which a group tackles a specific design problem. Typically, this involves a focused period of intense work. This year’s project began Wednesday, August 26th at 5 pm and concluded Friday morning at 11 am. Students worked in teams of four representing multiple disciplines and levels of study--upper division undergraduate and graduate students.
Students took a designer’s view of the built environment and focused that view on human experience in a selected area of the city. Using Kevin Lynch’s seminal work The Image of the City as a framework for analysis and the city as laboratory, teams considered the intersection of intent and meaning in artifacts of the city.
2008—Riverfront Park Carousel Facility
The City of Spokane is seeking to replace the home of the historic Looff Carousel in downtown Spokane's Riverfront Park. This new facility will provide an appropriate setting and much needed space for additional functions The Looff Carousel—a Spokane landmark—enjoys one of the highest rider counts in the country.
This project is not just about creating a facility to house the carousel, it is also about how a building/carousel affects its surroundings and how such a project can be leveraged to much greater use in the creation of "place" within the city and the park.
2007—Downtown Hillyard
In January 2007, design students developed ideas for a revitalized downtown Hillyard. The charrette and the ensuing spring semester studio are just the beginning of what is expected to be a multi-year collaboration between the Hillyard community and the Design Institute.
Twenty-four teams of four students first took a tour of the downtown area and learned first-hand from members of the community what their designs would need to incorporate to enrich the area for living, working, playing and learning. They integrated this knowledge with today’s life challenges and opportunities and prepared scenarios that identified activities and businesses that would produce an enriched, exciting downtown Hillyard.
2005—Dog House Competition
The 2005 charrette challenged students to design and fabricate a cardboard mock-up of a doghouse that responded to the needs and personality of the dog client, in a style inspired by a famous firm or designer. The top teams' designers were constructed for SpokAnimal's annual auction and displayed at the Northern Quest Casino prior to the auction.
Fall 2009 Charrette:
e.vocative [S]itations
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Videos |
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1st place |
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I-Home
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2nd place |
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Listen Up!
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3rd place |
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desCARTes:
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Posters |
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1st place |
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desCARTes:
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2nd place |
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Listen up! Discovering Gonzaga University by ear (pdf)
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3rd place |
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Peaceful Valley,
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View program here (PDF)
Read more in the Newsletter
