Can a new pedagogical approach to design education be the means to more designers flourishing and more built environments of flourishing in our world today?
Deepening Design Education:
Multi-disciplinary Research Study evaluating the impact of the Contemplative Designer Framework on design processes, designed spaces and well-being of design students.
Our built environment’s importance as a mediator of self-actualization and self-transcendence looms larger than ever. Designers are seeking to bring these “built environments for flourishing” into being but this pursuit is hindered by an epidemic of burnout in design professionals and design students.
Previous approaches to bring mindfulness-based interventions into design curricula have generally been discipline-agnostic and limited in duration, curtailing their effectiveness.
We propose that when design students train in the inner technologies of flourishing as part of the design process, not secondary to the design process through the tools and practices of the Contemplative Designer Framework they will be better equipped to flourish in their daily design lives and, in turn, design spaces of flourishing.
Participants were enrolled in one of two design courses founded on the Contemplative Designer pedagogy taught by Professor Sarika Bajoria at two different universities in Fall 2024: Interdisciplinary undergraduate design seminar included 14 undergraduate students at different levels from various design majors and interior design undergraduate studio included 13 interior design senior-level students. Course assignments and activities were matched between studios.
Our Research Team
Sarika Bajoria, Adjunct Professor of Architecture + Interior Design at Parsons School of Constructed Environments and University of New Haven, Founder, Contemplative Designer, Principal, Sarika Bajoria Unlimited
Dr. Dara Cunningham, PhD. Cognitive Science and Design & Planning, Principal, Neuroarchitecture
Dr. Laura Malinin, PhD. Cognitive Science and Design & Planning, AIA, Associate Professor of Interior Architecture, Director of Nancy Richardson Design Center, Colorado State University
Dr. Benjamin van Buren, PhD. Assistant Professor of Psychology, Director of the New School Social Research Perception Laboratory, The New School
Colleen Macklin, Professor of Media Design, Director of PETLab, Parsons School of Design
Kexuan Zhang, Zsuzsanna Lakatos, Lydia Eastman, Marina Pace, Kate McCoy, A.C. Harkness, The New School Perception Laboratory, The New School
Azuka Odiah, University of Texas
Research Questions and Research Methods
01 RESEARCH QUESTION:
What is the impact of the Contemplative Designer Framework on student design processes?
RESEARCH METHODS:
Students’ design process artifacts, reflective journals, self-assessments and final project designs are being evaluated using grounded theory, thematic analysis, and an ecological model of creativity framework.
02 RESEARCH QUESTION:
What is the impact of the Contemplative Designer Framework on student perceived well-being and ability to flourish?
RESEARCH METHODS:
2 Interviews conducted with each student at the end of the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters are being assessed to determine sustainability of benefits on well-being using the Reflective Activity Systems Theory (RAST) framework.
03 RESEARCH QUESTION:
What is the impact of the Contemplative Designer Framework on design outcomes and spaces?
RESEARCH METHODS:
Student final project designs are being expert reviewed by design educators and professionals to evaluate the effectiveness of the project spaces to mediate dimensions of flourishing.
04 RESEARCH QUESTION:
How do users experience the spaces and translate the design intention of the student projects?
RESEARCH METHODS: