Course Overview
This course for Fall 2024 focuses on design and fabrication of furniture focused on the
new CCA Campus of Double Ground as a primary site.
Students will engage in research regarding the multiple histories and activities on the
site beginning with indigenous communities, its more recent history as a place of
commerce + industry, to its current life as an educational space. They will create a1visual presentation representing findings as they relate to concepts of gathering and
ritual. Research should also include other physical aspects of the site including flora,
fauna, historical objects and any other details specific to their findings.
Students will also research and reflect on their own identities and ancestral practices
of design, craft and place. This process of self-reflection will anchor students in their
specific positionality within culturally defined systems and structures. Deep inquiry
into ancestral practices and materials as they relate to what we now call “design” will
also create opportunities for students to create their own definition of a design
practice that takes into account their full identities.
Through these studies, students will gain a deeper understanding of a place and their
relationship to a place as the foundation for their design process. A process of
research, form and material experiments, and classroom discussion will result in clear
articulation of creative intentions in both verbal and visual form. Students will learn to
communicate ideas and facilitate an experience through their material choices, craft
and fabrication techniques, and functionality.
The course will cover tooling and techniques in support of project concepts. Students
are encouraged to work with solid wood as their primary material, supported by other
materials and processes. Students should be comfortable working in a shop
environment and have hands-on making experience with machinery, but are not
required to have extensive woodworking skills.
Students will produce one built project and a zine to document process.

Visit Workday to view this information.