Department of Design students in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will challenge each other to propose the best design “fix,” or improvement, to their environment when they compete Jan. 20-26 on campus in the 2010 Metropolis Magazine Next Generation® Design Competition.

Cross-disciplinary teams made up of 280 students majoring in advertising design, fashion design, industrial and interaction design and interior design will work in the format of a charrette—a short but intense design project—facilitated by COLAB, VPA’s interdisciplinary initiative. After a series of guest lectures on Jan. 20, students will spend two days in work sessions on the Metropolis challenge: to find the one design fix that can be made now in their designed environment—the products they use, their home, their workplace, their city or any commercial application—that, in scale or as inspiration, can improve the future.

Ten teams will be selected as finalists by a jury of faculty and will present their work to the public on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Grant Auditorium. Paid parking is available in the Irving Garage. The top finalists will receive awards provided by Syracuse Center of Excellence (SyracuseCoE) and will be forwarded to the Metropolis competition.

The Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition was created in 2003 to promote activism, social involvement and entrepreneurship in young designers. The winner will receive a $10,000 prize and be featured in the May 2010 issue of the magazine and on Metropolismag.com.

The charrette is sponsored by the VPA Department of Design, COLAB and SyracuseCoE and is supported by the Sustainability Focus Course Initiative funded by SU’s Office of Academic Affairs. For more information, contact Carlota Deseda-Coon at COLAB, 315-443-2913 or chdeseda@syr.edu.

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