Peter Dean was trained as an architect in the Department of Architecture and Design at RISD, and as a furniture designer/maker at RISD under Tage Frid, graduating in 1977. For the past 16 years, he has worked in the Department of Furniture Design, teaching Sophomore Studio Methods, the Senior Degree Project and Sustainability: Green Materials and Green Behavior research elective.
Working with a few colleagues, Dean developed the Nature-Culture-Sustainability concentration at RISD, and he teaches the core course in the concentration. He also helped to develop the R. Buckminster Fuller Biennial Design Science Symposium in collaboration with the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab at RISD and the Synergetics Collaborative.
Courses
Fall 2024 Courses
GRAD 146G-01 - BIODESIGN STUDIO
LevelGraduate
UnitArchitecture and Design
Subject Graduate Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
GRAD 146G-01
BIODESIGN STUDIO
LevelGraduate
UnitArchitecture and Design
Subject Graduate Studies
PeriodFall 2024
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: M | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PMInstructor(s): Peter DeanLocation(s): Auditorium, Room 522Enrolled / Capacity: 14Status: Closed
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The course aims to create sufficient awareness of what yields life on earth, and a complementary biocentric view of the world. New ethical and critical challenges are continually presented to human society with the growth of material science and its implications for design; the course introduces sources and research references to assist with our understanding of these challenges. We explore aspects of human knowledge of living systems, providing a research-based approach to such topics as BioDesign; biomimicry in materials, processes, and structures; functional morphology and the cognitive phenomena of Biophilia. The 'affinities and aversions' we as humans have regarding natural living systems are in everything: from the spaces we inhabit to the metaphors we employ in order to understand complexity in general, including issues connected with health, recuperation and resilience. Using the recently extended facilities and resources of the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, faculty and graduate students together create opportunities to experiment, observe, and learn about the networked aspects of living systems, materials, structures and processes. Theoretical frameworks associated with the biology of living systems, the growth and formation of natural materials including the contemporary revolutions in evolutionary theory are introduced and examples discussed with visiting specialists.
