Being in the city

Possible methodological directions for the teaching-learning of urban furniture

Abstract

This article points to possible methodological directions for teaching and learning the theme of urban furniture, within the context of the Furniture Design discipline. Using a metadisciplinary didactic structure, divided into the stages of thinking, wanting, and doing, the class carries out projects of original furniture to be applied in the city. In the thinking phase, a dialogued exposition of theoretical references occur, such as the space/place dichotomy, the elements of the city, and the idea of ​​non-place. To guide these discussions, the class organizes itself in a circle format, a technique that accompanies most of the discipline's classes. In the wanting phase, the class identifies specific urban problems through mental maps and jointly defines requirements of common interest. Finally, the doing phase is channeled through the generation of alternatives, sketches, and prototyping, made sustainably with found materials. The results show the efficiency of the chosen methods in generating furniture aligned with the concepts of the field of study, attentive to the human need to create and inhabit places.