For one night, it’s Milwaukee’s only college campus made of cardboard.
As the culmination of a three-week introduction to the discipline, 25 Interior Architecture + Design majors at MIAD will live in individually designed cardboard shelters on Thursday night and Friday morning, Sept. 21-22.
The temporary homes take their inspiration from cutting-edge architectural forms like the Sydney Opera House as well as the pyramids, geodesic domes and other imaginative forms. Interior Architecture and Design Professor Robert Lynch conceived the project as a way “to challenge the students’ creative and problem-solving skills and to create a sense of community among newly declared sophomore majors and outgoing seniors.” “Foremost,” said Lynch, “the project imparts to the sophomores that IA+D is not just about drawing or making a model, but is ultimately about habitation.” With only a limited supply of cardboard and various fasteners, every student must design a shelter, build it and live in the results.
After pre-fabbing their homes on Thursday afternoon, the students will fill Catalano Square with their creations and move in for the night. Interior Architecture + Design majors develop their abilities to solve spatial problems with solutions that embody both aesthetic and practical concerns. Graduates of the major work in architecture firms, interior design firms, custom design/build firms, exhibit/display firms, and design firms; and in companies like Eppstein Uhen Architects, HGA, Aurora Health Care, Kohler Company and Ethan Allen.
