On Tuesday, Nov. 3, the MIT International Design Center (IDC) launches the inaugural Interdisciplinary Design Conversations featuring designer and inventor Chuck Hoberman. This event, which will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the IDC (Building N52, 3rd floor), is free and open to MIT and to the public.
Chuck Hoberman is the founder of Hoberman Associates, a multidisciplinary practice that utilizes transformable principles for a wide range of applications including consumer products, deployable shelters, and structures for aerospace. Examples of his commissioned work include the transforming video screen for U2's 360 degrees world tour, the Hoberman Arch installed as the centerpiece for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, and exhibits at a number of major museums. In 2008, he co-founded the Adaptive Building Initiative with the global engineering firm Buro Happold, which has since built a series of dynamic facades and operable roofs in the U.S., Japan, and the Middle East.
Hoberman has over 20 patents for his transformable inventions, and has won numerous awards for his designs. He is a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and teaches at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
Beginning this semester, the IDC invites design experts to take part in the Interdisciplinary Design Conversations series. This series brings a prominent figure from industry, research, practice, or other domain to offer thoughts on interdisciplinary themes in design. These talks are meant to foster an ongoing and Institute-wide discourse on the evolving nature of the processes, tools, and outcomes of design in the 21st century. All members of the MIT community are invited to join in an effort to cultivate an inclusive environment for thinking about and initiating effective design in the world.
