A Bar Stool, Ernst Haeckel, and Rhinoceros: Learning Object Modeling Technology through Design Problem Solving is the title of the winning presentation by Coggan and Riehm. In their talk they exemplified results of experimental teaching methods using three-dimensional object modeling software to interrogate the scope of interior design pedagogy.

“A specific assignment is reviewed in this presentation, the design of a bar stool based on the botanical illustrations of Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919). This assignment is used as the furniture design course’s final project. For the instructor, the Haeckel drawings were an illustration of the biological nature of structure. For the student, the device of the nineteenth century drawings did many things: it exposed the students to a body of nineteenth century drawings that are beautiful and full of inspiration for their design work, it presented the students with a nineteenth century sensibility while the use of Rhino, as a design tool, brought about final products with a twenty-first century sensibility.”

Coggan Crawford/ Riehm.  “A Bar Stool, Ernst Haeckel, and Rhinoceros: Learning Object Modeling Technology through Design Problem Solving” Paper presented at the IDEC 2012 Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, March 19-22, 2012.