Interdisciplinary Design Strategy Program (Postgraduate) at the Brookfield Sustainability Institute (G414)

George Brown College

The Interdisciplinary Design Strategy program at the Brookfield Sustainability Institute is a global solutions studio focused on identifying, understanding, and developing smart sustainable solutions to help fight climate change.

The Interdisciplinary Design Strategy program at the Brookfield Sustainability Institute is a global solutions studio focused on identifying, understanding, and developing smart sustainable solutions to help fight climate change.

Transform The World

The Brookfield Sustainability Institute (BSI) is built on the 20-year legacy of the Institute without Boundaries (IwB), a think tank at George Brown College that fosters collaborative design practices for a better world. This evolution is a response to the vast social, economic, and environmental disruptions caused by the acceleration of climate change which puts sustainability at the core of everything we do.

Each September, a small group of students begins a nine-month graduate certificate program in Interdisciplinary Design Strategy, where they work as a team to research, design, and realize real-world projects in partnership with governments, non-profits, private companies, and George Brown College.

Cross Boundaries

This program will accept strong candidates representing different fields – for example, an architect, engineer, designer, planner, economist, an artist, a scientist. The program will produce a new breed of designer - one who can articulate possibilities. In the words of Buckminster Fuller, a "synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist.

The goal of the BSI is to foster a new generation of talent with the foresight and skills to think systemically, collaborate, and build sustainably. Through an interdisciplinary learning model, students develop applied research and innovation projects that tackle real-world sustainability challenges alongside community and industry partners.

Program Learning Outcomes

The graduate demonstrates the ability to:

Apply universal and sustainable design principles to complex global problems in order to create intelligent solutions that address environmental, social and economic challenges.

Manage an Integrated Design Process to deliver human-centred design strategy projects for government, corporations and nonprofit organizations.

Design collaboratively in an interdisciplinary studio environment to complete environmental, communication, product, service and system design projects.

Apply primary and secondary research methodologies to the design process using a think/make practice model to achieve project outcomes that meet user needs.

Adhere to the professional practices of a design studio in order to facilitate the success of design teams in achieving project results.

Participate in a multiphase design process in order to create a holistic, integrated and realistic design project.

Liaise and manage the design process to provide solutions for clients, including design, documentation, tendering, fabrication and delivery.

Present research results and design solutions to a diverse audience utilizing effective communication strategies.