Class Recommendation: Design Futures NYC
If you’re a first-year looking for a class recommendation that will introduce you to a great crop of people as well as a structured environment to explore the city, boy do I have the class for you. One of the highlights from my first year was taking a class called Design Futures NYC. This class is run by the Architecture Department and functions as the informal “intro to architecture and design” class. It only meets on Fridays, and although the class lasts for three hours, here’s the catch: half the class is spent on campus, while the second half is spent on a group field trip to experience design in the City together. Some examples of the places we went to were the Museum of the City of New York, the Noguchi Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Pratt Institute, and the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Some weeks, instead of field-tripping, a guest lecturer would visit the class and present on a topic. One guest spoke about narrative-storytelling through virtual reality and another spoke about branding a city. A positive aspect of this class that I didn’t expect to enjoy was not only were we exposed to so many aspects of design, but we also got the opportunity to meet working artists and designers and learn how the design process translates to the working world. I genuinely looked up to my professor, as well. She was incredible in every sense of the word—very skilled at leading students to a deeper level of understanding and continuously encouraging us to think about design through new perspectives.
One reason why I love Design Futures is that it is capped at a certain number of students, making it easy to build relationships with your professor and peers. Between spending an extended amount of time together working on design projects and exploring the city on field trips, it is very easy to feel a sense of camaraderie and community in the class. One aspect to note about studying architecture at Barnard is that every time you complete a project in a studio class, you get to present your work to the class and any guest critics that the professor invites to class, who could be other professors or working professionals in the City. Essentially, your work is pinned up on the wall, and your professor, guest critics, and peers give feedback. It's a very supportive environment, especially because you have been working alongside your classmates for the whole semester.
The last great reason to take Design Futures as a first-year is that it introduces you to all the design resources that Barnard has to offer, like the Design Center and the Design and Architecture Lab (the DAL). The Design Center is located in the Milstein Center and houses construction tools like saws and sanders, as well as 3D printers and laser cutters. The DAL is on the 4th floor of the Diana Center (where the Arch Dept. is housed) and is only accessible to students in art or architecture classes. Open 24/7, The DAL has large-scale printers and computers retrofitted with the Adobe Suite and other 3D modeling programs. Even if you ultimately decide that the field of architecture isn’t for you, by taking Design Futures you will at least be acquainted with more of Barnard’s resources.
-Ellie George