Interdisciplinary design education in Turkey and Cyprus

Saeedeh K.ZeinaliEastern Mediterranean University

1/23/2008

• the main discussed subject is interdisciplinary design education. Firstly, the terms of design education and interdisciplinary education are clarified as theory, and then three of universities (Istanbul Technical University, Yildiz Technical University and Mimar Sinan University) in Istanbul are selected as case study about the possibility of having interdisciplinary program in design education and the potential of the faculty to have some interdisciplinary design courses with the students of the different departments.

Design studio in ITU

• The universities of Cyprus (Near East University, Lefke University, Girne American University and eastern Mediterranean University) are the next selected group as case study. This discussion is supported by the result diagrams of the questioned from students of these university and at the end there is a guideline for faculty of Architecture of Eastern Mediterranean University which has three design departments about having the design courses in more interdisciplinary way and making the design environment more useful for the different departments of the faculty of architecture.

Interdisciplinary

• Interdisciplinary program is a program of studies whose concentration or requirements are composed of courses from two or more disciplines which are more or less related to each other.

• Unlike most subjects, the study of architecture and other design fields are naturally interdisciplinary. It is an area of study that can be approached in a variety of ways, drawing on the different skills and talents of tutors, and building on the different interests and capacities of students at every level.

Istanbul and Cyprus Universities• The common point in faculty of architecture in Turkish

universities and Cypriot universities is that all of them having more than only architecture departments and they owe different design and art departments which is a powerful point in having interdisciplinary program between these different departments of design.

• There is an obvious different between universities of Turkey and Cyprus and that’s the context which they are located in, this issue make the different points of view between the students. Students of the universities of Istanbul are in a very busy and complicated city-like environment, on the other hand the students of universities in Northern Cyprus spending their educational life in more silent and less city-like environment.

• The other important point in Universities of Northern Cyprus is the interaction between nationalities and cultures which is an important point for a designer or an artist.

Guideline for Architecture Faculty of EMU

• The guide line for faculty of architecture in EMU which includes some suggestions based on interdisciplinary education.

• The faculty of architecture in Eastern Mediterranean University includes three different departments of architecture, interior architecture and Industrial design which the last one is so young in this faculty.

Guideline

• The interdisciplinary program can be vaster than having co operation within the departments of architecture faculty, the interaction of programs between architecture faculty and other fields like civil engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering business and economics, marketing management, psychology, archaeology and art history, music, communication and media studies.

• Having a flexible program in education which is having more elective courses can be a solution for having interdisciplinary education

Guideline• There can also be some programs and collaboration with

the companies and factories which are inside or outside of the country.

• making all three design studios in one big space. When all the three departments students are working together and getting critiques from the different professors of architecture, industrial design and interior design departments, consciously or unconsciously students will gain wider view in design and they can store selective information from other students and teachers of other departments in an interdisciplinary educational environment such as a big studio which one can find students and teachers from all the departments of architecture faculty.

Guideline

• providing some short-time project which has the subject of other departments’ problem and making students to struggle with the problem of other departments’ students for a limited time

• Another approach to the design education is to ask students to use their cultural background in a conscious way that others can also make use of it and they can apply their own cultural knowledge in their design.

• As a result of all the cases mentioned above being in a modern world which the knowledge and information is passing so fast and everyone is competing to be in a higher level of knowledge, having enough information about other related and close fields or even the fields which can not be directly related to one’s own profession, is somehow necessary and interdisciplinary education in art and design field may improve students to get their goals much easier and acceptable.