AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.12.2003, Side 11

Design Education
at the University of lceland
Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson, Engineer
Tæki, sem keppti í einni af hinum vinsælu hönnunarkeppnum nemenda í véla- og
/ðnaðarverkfræð við Háskóla íslands. / A gadget from one of the popular student design
competitions in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of lcleland.
The word design is a concept that
has been increaingly used during the
last years. It was first only used for
overseeing the making of individual
objects. Snorri Sturluson writes in
Heimskringla, that Ólafur „The Holy“
Haraldsson, was „a „sjónhannarr" in
every way.“ The meaning of the term
„sjónhannarr" is probably best
explained by saying that Ólafur could
make objects without a model or
drawing from simply visualising what
should be made. This would make
him a designer in the present mean-
ing of the word. Design, or words
connected to design, were not used
in the lcelandic language until after
the middle of 20th century.
The word design (hönnun) first
appears in lceland in Nýyrði IV in
1956. Nýyrði were a group of five
books published by Halldór
Halldórsson and Sveinn
Bergsveinsson, between 1953-1956.
The word has since been widely
used. According to the Ritmálsskrá
Orðabókar Háskólans, most words
beginning with design or designer
were first used in the magazine
Sveitarstjórnar-mál and the Magazine
of the Association of lcelandic
Engineers. This word also often
appeared in the Encyclopaedia of
AB, a 21 -volume series published
between 1965-1969. „Design" has
almost been too much used lately,
as one can hardly open a newspaper
or a magazine without seeing the
word in one form or another. With
greater use, its meaning has also
wídened. What was called design
40-50 years ago has now received
many kinds of new meaning.
If one looks at the role of the
University of lceland in this context,
one could say that the Department of
Engineering and related disciplines
has been most involved with design.
The Amerícan institution ABET,
which surveyed the curriculum and
teaching at the Department of
Engineering several years ago,
defined engineering design as fol-
lows: „A process to invent systems
or objects that fulfil certain demands.
This is a decision process where sci-
ence, mathematics and engineering
are deployed to use materials and
resources in as economical way as
possible to obtain a defined goal.“
This definition has been used within
the Department. By looking at the
University teaching manual where
design is mentioned, one can see in
which fields design is being taught.
An informal survey shows design can
be divided into three parts. First
there is technical design, where engi-
neering methods are being used to
design development, engines and
energy systems. These are classic
engineering undertakings and have
been taught at the University for
more than half a century. Planning
can perhaps be classified within this
group, although many would like to
look at it as another and more exten-
sive discipline than design. Secondly,
one can take the design of various
processes and software. There, one
works with production processes,
and navigation systems. Many kinds
of software, from that whích both
monitors and directs processes from
factory production to traffic manage-
ment, to software that designs every-
thing from a website to the Internet
itself, are also worked on. Thirdly,
there is design in the form of making
objects, preferably ones that have
not existed before. This type of
design has not developed much
within the University of lceland,
although some examples exist.
The Department of Engineering and
Industrial Engineering teaches a
course in industrial design, where the
making of objects for industry is
touched upon and all engineering
material science is taught as a basis
for design. Students of the
Engineering and Industrial
Engineering Department take part in
a yearly competion that calls for the
design of an engine or gadget, which
much solve a certain problem. This
competition has been quite popular
for many years.
Design education at the University of
lceland is satisfactory regarding tech-
nical and software design, but less in
product design. Many will be inter-
ested in developing further the role of
product design and graphic design
at the University of lceland, but in a
small community one must prioritise.
For the time being, the University will
have to leave this part of design to
others education, but keep an open
eye for cooperation with others. ■
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