School of the Art Institute of Chicago

SAIC’s Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO) encourages a vibrant engagement with design at all scales—from body to environment—and outside disciplinary boundaries. Our faculty believes that future designers need to be thinking designers, practitioners willing to explore unknown territory and engage problems not yet defined, and our students are inspired to become agents of design, entrepreneurs developing hubs of activity linking art, design, science, business, and culture.

Different concepts of design are entering public discourse and design
practices and are constantly evolving in our fast-changing world. Designers
need to be comfortable with uncertainty and complexity, often having to
locate their creative imagination outside disciplinary boundaries. Traversing
through multiple domains of knowledge is becoming increasingly essential, as is acknowledgement of risk taking as a path to opportunity generated from discovery-led work.

Students in AIADO build dexterity through deep explorations in independent
studios and collaborative partnerships. This methodology facilitates our
students’ ability to translate meaningful ideas into meaningful objects and
environments—and challenges the fluid borderline that outlines design,
opening the profession to unexpected possibilities.

We take play and risk seriously. We give freedom with one hand while
expecting accountability with the other. By engaging open platforms for
rigorous thinking and making, we are cultivating a new kind of relevance for
future designers and architects. We launch individual voices that are willing
to lead, envisioning potential futures while honoring traditions and changing
the field from the inside out.