Dezeen Magazine

Master in Critical Design at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering

The Master in Critical Design programme at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering incorporates practical collaborative activities into theoretical study to immerse students into the course.


School: Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering
Course: Master in Critical Design
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Course dates: September 2024 to July 2025
Application deadline: 15 July 2024

A master's course that explores the instrumentalisation of critical design in the creation of an impactful change within specific spatial contexts.

During one academic year, this master's course combines theoretical study, research investigation and practical work led by international architects, thinkers, artists, activists, curators and publishers. It explores the history and current debates and gives a landscape of contemporary practices that are challenging hegemonic discourses today.

You will acquire a broad set of perspectives on key challenges of our times and tools to add to the international conversation on geopolitics, spatial justice, environmental activism, care, identity politics, feminist studies and practices, climate justice, extractivism, non-human rights, political art and design, critical architecture or urban radical alternatives among others, though experimental criticism applied to design research.

Within the programme's curriculum (Critical Thought and Design, Current Debates, Contexts – Cities and Environments and a master thesis), there also will be an ongoing cycle of thought-provoking lectures, hands-on workshops and lively seminars.

The programme also emphasises collaboration through various learning methods and field trips, promoting knowledge sharing and community building. This straightforward methodology aims to make a meaningful impact on design and societal discussions within the realm of Contextual Design and Critical Design.

Applications to this course have now closed.

Top image: Cohabitation Dome, Takk. Frac Centre Feminist Architecture Biennale.

Dezeen Courses

Dezeen Courses is a service from Dezeen that provides details of architecture, interiors and design courses around the world. Click here for more information.

Students working on project