Abstract
Studio learning is central to the teaching of design. However, the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside emerging and historic critiques of studio ped-agogy, creates a space for critical engagement with the present and potential futures of design education in studio. In this paper, I outline historic critiques of studio pedagogy, drawing primarily from critical pedagogy literature to frame is-sues relating to disempowerment, student agency, and monolithic representa-tions of the student role and student development. I build upon this critical foundation to reimagine studio practices as pluriversal, recognizing the challeng-es and opportunities of bridging epistemological differences and facilitating the potential for pluralism in design curricula, our student experiences, and the fu-ture of design professions.
Keywords
studio pedagogy, design education, critical pedagogy, pluriversal thinking
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.238
Citation
Gray, C.M. (2022) Critical pedagogy and the pluriversal design studio, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.238
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Research Paper
Included in
Critical pedagogy and the pluriversal design studio
Studio learning is central to the teaching of design. However, the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside emerging and historic critiques of studio ped-agogy, creates a space for critical engagement with the present and potential futures of design education in studio. In this paper, I outline historic critiques of studio pedagogy, drawing primarily from critical pedagogy literature to frame is-sues relating to disempowerment, student agency, and monolithic representa-tions of the student role and student development. I build upon this critical foundation to reimagine studio practices as pluriversal, recognizing the challeng-es and opportunities of bridging epistemological differences and facilitating the potential for pluralism in design curricula, our student experiences, and the fu-ture of design professions.