Design Does Cross Disciplines: notes after attending Designing Futures event in York
Design does cross disciplines.
On 3rd June 2025, I went to Designing Futures, a gathering of folks from design, the humanities, and STEM at the Department of Biology, University of York.
Here are my notes from the audience, based on how I interpreted things.
The day was organised by Jin Fan, an engineer and archaeologist at the University. She showed how ideas from theatre, cinema, and new media influence how architecture is taught and communicated. Remarkable that in Norway, where there’s less demand for dense housing, architectural students imagine buildings with immaterial elements, using water, air, and mist — which Jin incorporates in her own work.
Kenneth Graham of Solus Ceramics, an architectural tile supplier, walked us through a Life Cycle Analysis of materials used in buildings, from carpets to tiles. These visualisations help specifiers choose sustainable options that will remain in a building longer, or be less harmful to replace, as occupants and tastes change over decades.
Terry Dillon from the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Labs talked about indoor air quality. Particles and compounds are generated by everyday activities like cooking and cleaning, many can be harmful. In addition to existing test facilities at the Labs, two test houses are being built to gather more data about interior air, with potential implications for product, building, and activity design.
Nick Jones, from the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, explored how our recognition of buildings as kinds of spaces is shaped by media and myth. Focusing on a derelict building, he pointed out that media portrayal, design software, and CGI previsualisation can make the structure, and space, seem pliable and easily changeable — but in practice, is that true?
Duncan Marks of York Civic Trust showcased Planning Club, a York-based programme that’s been running for a decade. Postgraduate volunteers meet weekly to research and comment on live planning applications — bringing their eclectic mix of skills to steer real-world urban development in York. Many have gone on to work in conservation and planning around the world.
Jennifer Altehenger, a historian at the University of Oxford, closed the event with a talk on the design systems China developed during industrialisation. Designers undertook local research and studied artisanal crafts like Ming dynasty furniture-making, which used no glue or nails. In the 1980s, Chinese modular design became part of complex design exchanges between East and West.
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It was great to return to my alma mater and see how it continues to connect disciplines in productive ways. I often work on visual communication projects that adapt specialist topics for different audiences and outcomes — drawing on my experience in both academia and the creative industries — so crossing disciplines feels right at home. Grateful to the organisers for staging a wide-ranging programme of talks.