Master of Environmental Design (Yale) - call for applicants

fyi, imre
ps: the program below is getting a re-boot under its new direction, Keller
Easterling. Students from any undergrad background interested in design can
apply. Keller writes: "I am hoping that there might be students who move
beyond cultural production and its routine venues to actually impact the
world as designers in any discipline." Interested students should apply!

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for more info, visit:
https://www.architecture.yale.edu/academics/programs/3-m-e-d

The Master of Environmental Design program is a two-year research-based
program culminating in a Masters thesis. Started in 1967, the MED program
remains one of the first and most intensive of its kind with a history that
is particularly relevant today.

The program has long addressed environment as the aggregate of objects,
conditions, and influences that constitute the constructed surroundings.
Today that environmental scope informs many crucial contemporary issues
from climate change and global inequality to digital ubiquity and the
influence of large socio-technical organizations. A return to the origins
of the program also energizes an activist conception of design. Positioned
beyond client consumption or the cultural production of galleries, to
design, in this context, is to create conditions for change that address
urgent situations in the present.

The MED program prepares students for a critical practice in writing,
teaching, curatorial work, and experimental design. It may also provide a
foundation for future Ph.D. studies in architecture and related fields. The
very intention of the program is to assert fresh applications of spatial
practices in the broader culture and even in global governance.

The program culminates in a Masters thesis. While a scholarly text
accompanies each thesis, students and advisors can tailor the final project
document to accommodate the specifics of the inquiry (e,g, experimental
design proposal, mapping, web archive, field guide, exhibition, etc.).

Situated to cross reference all the programs at YSOA and all the
disciplines within the university, MED students have a special agency
within the school. They generate a rich interdisciplinary discussion of
social, political, economic, technical, and aesthetic material. During
their studies, students take advantage of an extensive array of resources
at Yale University. Researchers may teach and take part in symposia as well
as join in collaborative projects that exercise design, curatorial,
editorial, and archival skills.

In the over fifty-year history of the program, a diverse inventory of MED
projects has included everything from prescient speculations about
architecture and computing to studies of global infrastructure networks and
landscapes to the intersections of architecture, art, and media among many
other things. Students are encouraged to engage in a wide variety of
methodologies, tools, and topics. Below are some recurring areas of
research.

Students work closely with one or two advisers on their independent
project. Advisers are primarily drawn from the School of Architecture
faculty. Additional advisers are drawn from other departments at the
University as appropriate to the field of study. The following faculty
members serve on the M.E.D. committee, which reviews all independent work
each term.

Keller Easterling, *Chair*

Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen
Alan Plattus
Elihu Rubin

Additional Faculty from around the university who frequently serve as MED
advisors and readers include:
Kishwar Rizvi, History of Art
Craig Buckley, History of Art
Fatima Naqvi, History of Art
Francesco Casetti, Film and Media Studies
William Rankin, History of Science

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