Integrated Design Curriculum

Works from the IDC Department in the 2007 Senior Thesis Show.

Ivy Clendenen, Manhattan Moccasins

"Manhattan describes a place in most people's minds, and not a Native American community. Much of Manhattan's history is in the name, revealing the Native heritage that has been mostly forgotten. Through a symbolic as well as functional object, the shoe, I will redesign the moccasin to suit the demands of the urban landscape while maintaining the aesthetics of the moccasin. A line of shoes will be developed, each representing an aspect of the Native American community of the 1600's New York that can be connected to Manhattan communities today. The shoes will reveal an old community while creating and connecting with new ones, causing a deeper awareness of one's environment and the people in it."

Evan Euripidou, Event Theatre

"Theatre is the creation of a world that allows its participants to experience something that they could not otherwise be able to truly explain. Through the interaction of the artist and the audience, the created world is brought to life. Events share these same fundamental principles in that an event creates a world and experience that is unexplainable. This project further explores the possible links between events, to its manifestation within an event architecture and experience of its participants. Taking an in-depth look at event architecture, this project proposes an integration of common event systems with the space to allow more flexibility and efficiency."

Mirren Gordon-Crozier, The Escape

"Identity is the prime human development struggle, which challenges all young people living in an urban environment. With this in mind I created a project which captures this tension in the way that youth culture chooses to physically represent themselves by the clothes they wear. I chose one character in particular who is trying desperately to set free her biological bonds and become a liberated and independant. Through costume I am able to illustrate this transformation of development and bring it to life through film."

Robyn Hasty, Red Hook: An Exploration of Identities

"How do we understand ourselves in context with our urban environment? This site-specific intervention in Red Hook, Brooklyn provides a point of entry to explore the forces affecting a community's evolution of identity over time. By looking at the tensions between historical record and individual memory, we can reflect upon on the role of our imaginations and everyday interactions that are actively shaping the identity of our communities."

Caroline Johns, Transit(ions)

"New York is a city for pedestrians, and is therefore composed of transitional spaces: spaces built to move people through efficiently. The subway is an extreme example of this, void of destinations and inherently impeding organic socialization; it creates polarized relationships between people, as well as within them. Through clothing and video, my project examines these dichotomous relationships, encouraging people to explore the spaces they inhabit everyday by way of their won bodies."

Shirly Nudelman, Inbetweens

"70% of New York City consists of its streets. Nevertheless, these are the spaces that are often taken for granted and tend to be overlooked in favor of parks. In Betweens reclaims these unused public spaces, making the streets livable and functional via a user-initiated and customizable system of street furniture; it enables resting and congregation points that double as community- or advertising-driven vehicles when not in use."

Begum Salihoglu, Environment: Unpolluted Animals: Unharmed Looks: Uncompromised

“For the fashion-conscious high profile scenesters of the Meatpacking district, environmental awareness and animal rights advocacy have unfortunately failed to go beyond shopping for organic groceries and adopting a vegetarian lifestyle. The lack of eco-friendly, animal-loving, high-end fashion products is the opportunity that this project seizes. It introduces luxurious designer shoes that not only look stylish, but are also produced without polluting the environment or harming any animals. After all, no Meatpacking district fashionista deserves to be bugged because of toxic glues, chemically treated fabrics, or skins from brutalized animals.”