Course code: IO3870
Course load: 3 EC

This course takes place in the first two weeks of the minor. The important aim of this course is to get to know each other by working together and to learn about various important aspects of interaction design at an architectural scale. With the whole minor group we attempt to build one big interactive environment, in small teams (2 or 3 students) you will develop an element of this environment. This is made possible by use of software and hardware technology that is preconfigured in a pattern for such an interactive environment. During the course we will click everything into place together thereby exploring all aspects of interactive environments together. As a result we establish a common vocabulary that forms a sound basis for teaching and learning in the remainder of the minor.

Course code: IO3872
Course load: 3 EC

The Design Strategies course is a lecture series to introduce theory, methods and practices relevant to the minor design assignment. The lectures will be delivered by the minor staff, colleagues from the Delft University of Technology or invited guests.

Most of the work in the Interactive Environments minor is active and hands-on, building prototypes, assessing the interactive experience, and everything in between. With the Design Strategies course, we aim to improve the academic skills of reading and writing. Reading for identifying relevant historical fields and prior-art communities to search for publications and extract knowledge for the benefit of the minor projects. Writing is already required in various activities in our minor. However, in this course we try to go beyond the level of progress reporting by offering two individual writing assignments. Firstly, at the end of Q1, each student is required to write an essay reflecting on their experience with designing interactive environments. Secondly, at the end of Q2 there is a copywriting assignment to write a publication targeting online magazines or blogs about the Q2 prototype the student has developed together with her/his team.

Course code: IO3873
Course load: 15 EC

The course design and prototyping studio is the main design track in the minor. Students work individually as well as in groups on the main design assignment. The Design and Prototyping course runs during the whole semester.

In the Design and Prototyping Studio course students explore the possibilities for dynamic, interactive spaces in which people and environments engage in a mutual relationship with each other. The course structure is built around a group project assignment of an interactive social space, consisting of autonomously operating intelligent building components and smart products forming an architectural ecosystem.

In order to design and engineer successful interactive environments it is necessary to integrate knowledge of different disciplines in order to address not only technological, but also cultural, social, structural and aesthetical aspects of such systems that are all inherently interdependent on each other. Considering buildings to be dynamically performing entities, engaging multiple users and external factors in interactive exchange of information means that architecture has to be treated as a complex system.

Course code: IO38XX
Course load: 4,5 EC

The Technology Skills course aims to introduce the basic technology skills involved with making prototypes of tangible interaction design. Students will be introduced to tools and techniques to prototype interactive, to create networks of interactive objects, work with digital manufacturing (modelling and fabrication) and the engineering aspects of prototypes. These themes will be introduced, practiced and applied in cycles. Each cycle consists of a learning activity follow a week later by an activity in which the newly learned skill is applied to a concrete design project.

Course code: IO38XX
Course load: 4,5 EC

The Design Skills course aims to encourage an approach of problem solving that is common to different design disciplines. Nowadays this is often referred to as Design Thinking, and is rooted in some of the major companies of the worlds (i.e. Google sprints, IBM design thinking, etc.). - Students will be introduced to theories and methods about user research, conceptualisation, validation (or testing) and design teamwork. These themes will be introduced, practiced and applied in cycles. Each cycle consists of a learning activity follow a week later by an activity in which the newly learned skill is applied to a concrete design project.