ARCTIC SUSTAINABLE ARTS AND DESIGN
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Ural State University of Architecture and Art
Department of Design
Arctic Design School 
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Arctic Design School is a unique research unit of the Ural State University of Architecture and Arts (USUAA) with the focus on material culture as well as design of socio-cultural and production scenarios in the conditions of Far North.

The School was initiated at the department of Industrial Design of Sverdlovsk Architectural Institute (currently, USUAA) in the beginning of 1980s. Student hiking movement was flourishing at the time, with the Northern Urals being one of the most popular destinations. In Winter 1979 future architects and designers of the Institute reached the top of the mountain Konzhakovskiy Kamen and discovered for themselves the fascinating world of Khanty, Mansi and Nenets – some of the Indigenous people of the Russian North. All of their posessions were beautiful, organic and functional objects, as if eventuating from the Nature itself and dissolving back into the Nature, living in harmony with their owners. The designers asked themselves: How did this come to be? Through the detailed study of material culture of the Northeners, sketching, measuring and dissembling structures, the students’ hiking trips soon became research field trips. Their findings lay ground to the first exhibitions, conferences, publications and dissertations.

Fast forward nearly 40 years. Students and graduates of the School have undertaken about 50 expeditions to the regions of Far North, Western Siberia, the Kola Peninsula, Chukotka, Altay. The technology changed: nowadays the field trips are aided by digital scales, laser meters, GPS-trackers and drones. The School has tested out the formats of a studio, a workshop, a Master’s programme. Its students and staff acquired experience in designing equipment, gear, transportation and mobile dwelling for military and civilians, developed cultural and social connections in production and exhibition projects. Master and PhD theses have been defended.

The core research interests of the School lie in (a) mitigation of the negative social and ecological consequences of the previous decades of “conquering” the North; (b) preserving the Nature in the future; (c) preserving the Aboriginal culture while creating comfortable conditions for wellbeing of both the Indigenous population and the newcomers, thus, forecasting the future of the North and its new culture.

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ASAD contact persons:
Svetlana Usenyuk-Kravchuk  svetlana.usenyuk[a]gmail.com
​Maria Gostyaeva maria_gostyaeva[a]mail.ru

Facebook |  VK |  Instagram: @arcticdesignschool


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