UTOPIAN DESIGN

EXHIBIT INTRO
A longstanding motivation of designand one that is plain in recent developments in technology and design for sustainable behavioris
the improvement of social well-being through the designed world. This aim has inspired utopian design movements throughout history,
which have sought to improve society through built form, be it architecture, furniture, or city planning. The contrasting approaches of the
Arts and Crafts Movement (1880s-1910s) and Modernism (1920s-30s) illustrate the diverse interpretations of social betterment manifest
through design. William Morris led the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century in England; inspired by thinkers like Augustic Pugin
and John Ruskin, Morris and his followers sought to save the masses from the moral and physical toxins of industrial city life, envisioning
a utopia where urban ills were cured by the return of rustic, authentic, and definitively un-industrial spaces and forms. Their designs thus
privileged organic materials and hand-craftsmanshipthe very opposite of Modernisms embrace of technology and scientific form. Modernist design first flourished in the early-mid 20th century, led by designers like Le Corbusier and Gerrit Rietveld. These designers conceived
of their buildings, interiors, objects, and cities as capable of rejuvenating a sickly society through a physical manifestation of rationality and
purity.
THIS EXHIBIT INCLUDES TWO ADJACENT IMMERSIVE DISPLAYS OF CONTRASTING UTOPIAN DESIGN MOVEMENTS. FURNITURE, MATERIALS, AND ARCHITECTURAL AND CITY PLANS AND IMAGES REPRESENTING THE VERNACULAR OF EACH. THE ENVIRONMENTAL DISPLAYS
WILL LINE TWO WALLS, WHICH WILL CONVERGE AT THE CENTER OF A CURVED THIRD WALL. AT THE CONVERGENCE, INTERACTIVE MEDIA
SCREENS ON THE WALL OFFER VISITORS A CHANCE TO SWIPE THROUGH THE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL RELATING TO BOTH MOVEMENTS. STANDING KIOSKS OFFER LIBRARIES OF AUDIO AND VIDEOS OF DESIGNERS FROM BOTH MOVEMENTS, WHERE VISITORS CAN LEARN ABOUT THE
POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES UNDERLYING THE MOVEMENTS, AND THEIR UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES. INTERACTIVE GAME SCREENS ALLOW
VISITORS TO FIND OUT WHICH UTOPIAN MOVEMENT THEIR AESTHETIC PREFERENCES ALIGN WITH.
REFERENCES

CHOOSE YOUR UTOPIA INTERACTIVE

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

Find out which utopian visionaries you would have followed. Does rationality and pure
form look like utopia to you? Or do you crave the simplicity of the older times, before
the onslaught of technology and the complications of modern life?

ARCHIVAL AND AUDIO/VIDEO MATERIAL BROWSERS

MOODBOARDS FOR IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL DISPLAYS

ARTS AND CRAFTS

MODERNISM