Robots Teach Design Students to Think Beyond Automatic Assumptions

The latest assignment for about 120 architecture and interior design freshmen at the University of Cincinnati hinges on creativity that is anything but mechanical. 

In fact, imagination and originality are the real goals of the assignment, in which the students must build life-sized, “self portrait” robots out of basement and garage knick-knacks, kitchen utensils, garbage, wood, old appliance parts, the occasional hardware store item and more.  It’s to encourage them to see themselves and the world around them more critically, with new eyes.  According to David Lee Smith, professor of architecture, “In design, it’s important to make connections in new ways between people and what they use, including buildings.  It’s also important to represent yourself in and through your work.  This is a tongue-in-cheek way to bring those lessons home.”

Smith is leading the students in their assignment, along with fellow faculty that include Gulen Cevik, adjunct assistant professor of interior design; Dennis Mann, professor of architecture; James Postell, associate professor of interior design; Marc Swackhamer, assistant professor of architecture; and Melanie Swick, adjunct professor of architecture.

The students will display their robotic handiwork from 11 a.m.-2p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, along the main staircase of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP).  The undergraduate programs in the college’s School of Architecture and Interior Design were recently named the best in the country in a nationwide survey of employers.