Event postponed

Due to recent H1N1 influenza virus, the Design Avenue - Icsid Interdesign Workshop organising committee  has rescheduled all activities for 11-23 October 2009. More updates will be posted shortly.

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Nuevo León is a state of Mexico that has recently experienced important changes in terms of public safety, cultural life, educational institutions, health institutions, hospitals and recreational options.

Nuevo León boasts an important industrial infrastructure in many fields such as: glass industry, cement, steel, automotive parts, packaging and financial services. That is why it is considered one of the most entrepreneurial states in the country and a region that aspires to create value for its citizens.

To support this trend of development, the Industrial Design Department at ITESM Campus, Monterrey has launched the initiative to organise the Monterrey Interdesign workshop 2009 under the theme "The Design Avenue. A Path to Meaningful Innovation."

www.interdesignmty2009.com

Background

Meaningful innovation always reflects value, value as perceived by the end user and other stakeholders. While the practice of innovation is highly desirable in any emerging society, innovation by itself will not necessarily be and be perceived as valuable

Hundreds of products around the world are a vivid example of this principle. Value innovation is, therefore, socially responsible, sustainable, centered in the final user, strategically oriented and supported by creative business models which will generate benefits for all the stake holders involved.

The Design Avenue is a metaphor that is used in a figurative way to suggest means to find value innovation for any product or service through design. At the same time, the "Design Avenue" is used as a term related to a public transport route in which all elements contained there-in will be designed within a value innovation framework. This concept, explores the intersection between business strategies, experience design, sustainable development with social responsibility and disruptive technologies, which will generate new business opportunities by identifying new markets and the incorporation of highly creative business models.

Theme

Main theme: "Design transforms knowledge into meaningful innovation". During the two-week workshop, five multi-disciplinary teams will work to prove the above stated principle. The idea behind it is for design to show its value in a city that has openly declared its vocation to knowledge.

"Monterrey ciudad del conocimiento" Monterrey, city of knowledge, is about to experience a fantastic journey of transformation from this motto, to the following one: "Monterrey city of knowledge, culture and design".

1. The Design Atrium - Designing a symbolic space that denotes a starting point. This area marks the beginning of a journey into a new experience... a new way of perceiving the city of Monterrey. The Design Atrium makes a warm and stimulating welcome to locals and visitors alike by offering a sample of the multi-sensorial experiences they will enjoy while discovering the Design Avenue.
2. Transportation - The bus, as the tangible vehicle to connect the dots, will be an example of what a public transportation of a city of knowledge and design should look like. This project is a great opportunity to display the principles of human centred inclusive design. Designing the experience of the ride will be as important as the design of the product itself.
3. Bus-Stops - As an essential way to link the users experience through the different destinations on the Design Avenue, a new system of bus stops will be proposed to be a connecting point between the city and the people. The bust stops will be more than a shelter or a place to catch a bus. These bus stops will endow the traveller with a unique sample of the "senses" of Monterrey. In this way, a bus stop will be the initial point to feel the "textures" of Monterrey, to perceive the "colours" of the city, to "taste" the flavours of the town, to perceive its multiple "aromas", and to enjoy the diverse "sounds" of its surroundings. By identifying idiosyncratic elements of the city and the cultural inheritance of its people, these bus stops will enhance the experience of being in Monterrey.
4. Urban Elements - Elements within urban public spaces which contain answers to the individual and collective needs of the community. These pieces of urban furniture will graciously interact with people of ages and will be iconic landmarks that will reveal its identity as part of the Design Avenue. Lamp posts, benches and fountains among many other elements, will offer the user an inspired urbanscape in which the proportions, the scales, the textures and the shapes will blend together into a harmonic image of a place which is no longer meaningless.
5. The Design Plaza - A contemporary agora in which the urban experience of the Design Avenue is enriched and finds a climatic moment. At the Design Plaza, adaptable spaces will provide the visitors with a creative environment where design has always a story to tell. Through highly creative sculptural elements and rich interaction areas, this space is meant to create memorable experiences by offering a constant multi-sensorial motivation for the user to go along through the different paths.
6. Children's Corner - In addition to the plaza’s features and with the idea of promoting a design culture as part of the city’s future, an area designated to children will be provided so that they have an initial contact with creativity and innovation. This space, which will be the synthesis and integration of the whole philosophy of the Design Avenue, will be unified in a functional and aesthetic way to The Design Plaza. This, will also be the beginning of a relationship between children and design. Toys, playgrounds and recreational items will be designed to teach the kids the benefits of good design. To complement the experience, didactically structured workshops will be held for children to learn while they design.

Aims

During this workshop participants will seek to answer the following questions:

• How can design contribute to create meaningful innovation in a city with a strong vocation for knowledge and culture?
• What strategies could be used to increase a ‘Design Culture’ in a predominantly industrial city?
• What kind of sustainable and creative business models could be implemented to show the value of design driven innovation?

Objectives

The Icsid Interdesign will aim to meet the following objectives:

• To create stimulating design concepts and innovative business models around the theme "Design Avenue", which will be confirmed by 6 related sub-themes.
• To help generate a design culture and to demonstrate its positive impact on the region.
• To show the benefits of design drive value innovation as a key resource to sustainable development, by emphasising the importance of concepts such as socially responsible design, human centred design and the design of multi-sensorial experiences.
• To come up with creative uses of traditional materials and innovative applications of concrete technologies.
  

Proposed outcome

Strong conceptual proposals of the following items:

• A model of public transportation for the Design Avenue
• Bus-stops
• Urban Furniture
• The Design Atrium (Initial point of the Design Avenue)
• The Design Plaza (and the Children's Corner)
  

These projects will be developed by the different design teams up to a conceptual stage which will be clearly illustrated with a set of renderings and digital work.

From this point, a follow-up team led by specialists from ITESM, will take over and begin the implementation stage which will include collaborative meetings and development sessions with the companies involved as well as with the local and state Government. Working prototypes of most projects will be provided and professionally evaluated, and the conclusions of these findings will be distributed among all participants of the workshop.

Event structure

Participants

36 people with different design competences, advanced students, and other relevant specialists will take part in the workshop.

Participants will be distributed among 6 interdisciplinary teams working on 6 identified projects, each having a project leader and a technical specialist as a support. Project leaders will be internationally recognized experts in related fields; in addition to this there will be a number of support personnel on-site to facilitate the workshop.

Presentation

At the end of the workshop a presentation as well as an exhibition with the obtained results will take place.

Event record

A record of the event will be edited, containing all the technical information and results obtained during the conferences and workshop. This will make it possible to use the other documents as reference material or as a text book for Industrial Design or other academic programs.

Application

To participate in the Design Avenue Interdesign, please fill out the online application form. 

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For further information on the Design Avenue Interdesign, please contact:

Mr. Andres Ahues-Vasquez
Executive Project Coordinator
t: +81 83 58 2000 ext. 5480
e:
w: www.interdesignmty2009.com

What is an Icsid Interdesign?

An interdesign is a two-week workshop where an international team of industrial designers and professionals from other disciplines come together to work collaboratively on a predetermined issue of regional and/or international significance. A host country identifies a particular problem specific to their country whose solution is applicable in other international contexts. Since the first interdesign workshop in 1971, Interdesign themes have ranged from being purely product design to opening discussions on general topics.