About
The Institute of Design Research Vienna (IDRV) was founded in the spring of 2008 with the goal of making, through design research, an independent, academically influenced contribution to the establishment of the field of design studies. This non-profit scientific organization was created to make interdisciplinary and disciplinary discussion contributions to the concrete issues within the field of design, for example, in the areas of pedagogical research, service and green design as well as design history.
A planned series of publications will present the research results, as well as the new methods to be applied, for discussion at regular intervals. The activities of the Institute are overseen by an international advisory board drawn from the fields of design theory, media theory, visual studies, ritual studies and philosophy of science. The director of the institute is Dr. Harald Gruendl, who has made contributions to fashion theory and design history through his experimental design-theoretical approaches, and is also active as a practical designer as a partner in the internationally successful design firm EOOS.
Teaching
In addition to various teaching and lecturing activities at institutions of higher learning and at conferences, the Institute of Design Research Vienna is particularly engaged in 2010 with the experimental development of a virtual design history course, which has the working title designlectures.org. The IDRV is endeavoring to break new ground in the imparting of design using the latest technological applications. This will improve upon traditional knowledge processing based on the usual design canon; the IDRV instead intends to cultivate a cultural-pedagogical practice of comprehension learning.
Research
One research focus in 2010 is the interdisciplinary project “Healing Images – DIY”. The issue at the center of this project is to what extent the setting of doctor-patient conversations concerning cancer diagnosis and therapy can be improved by finding a co-creative visual level and design interventions in the room. “Healing Images – DIY” is based on the methodological strategy of “Research Through Design” (Christopher Frayling) and is intended to make a theoretical and practical contribution to service design for the health sector.