Merel Noorlander

Ryan Genena, Timelessness

Merel Noorlander

4D Design

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Department Philosophy

The newest program at the Academy, the 4D Design department is an experimental studio where creativity and technology meet.

Department Philosophy

The newest program at the Academy, the 4D Design department is an experimental studio where creativity and technology meet.

The department explores the myriad ways that the physical world around us has become infused with an undercurrent of flowing data, turning everyday experiences into connected, feedback-driven interactions that are transforming every aspect of culture and society.

We build on Cranbrook’s legacy of exploratory design activities while redefining craft to encompass a broad range of outcomes including interactive objects, projected images, embedded electronics, applied robotics, computer-controlled machining, 3D printing, and mixed reality environments.

We work with form, code, and electronics to explore work that manifests in sound, light, and movement.

Department Philosophy

We are designers, activists, artists, authors and entrepreneurs.

Cryptid, Michael Candy

Department Philosophy

We are designers, activists, artists, authors and entrepreneurs.

We know that future solutions can only be understood through real-time, physical, interactive experiences and value the importance of hands-on making to push ideas forward through iterative, prototyped experiences. Our practice spans a variety of scales, both in its presence as well as its production, morphing easily from a handheld device to a room-sized installation to a digitally-distributed, locally manufactured product. We are designers, activists, artists, authors, and entrepreneurs.

Though relatively new as a field, the impact of 4D Design is profound. While the future may be here in terms of technological advances, it will take a new generation of well-educated and sophisticated designers to weave that technology into the world that we want for ourselves and future generations. Cranbrook 4D students will be perfectly positioned to lead the way through thoughtful, responsible, and compassionate design exploration.

Carla Diana with POLI Service Robot Close Project

Designer-in-Residence

Carla Diana

Carla Diana is a designer, author, and educator who explores the impact of future technologies through hands-on experiments in product design and tangible interaction. She has designed a range of products from robots to connected home appliances, and her work has appeared on the covers of Popular Science, Technology Review, and The New York Times Sunday Review.

Carla has been granted the honor of creating the 4D Design program at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, serving as its first Designer in Residence; it began accepting students in Fall 2019. She also serves as Head of Design for Diligent Robotics, an Austin, TX based company where advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning manifest in robot assistants to help healthcare workers.

Carla writes and lectures frequently on the social impact of robotics and emerging technology and created the world’s first children’s book on 3D printing, LEO the Maker Prince. She was cohost for the Robopsych Podcast, a show that explored the design and psychological impact of human-robot interaction. Her latest book My Robot Gets Me: How Social Design Can Make New Products More Human, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in March 2021.

Carla holds an M.F.A. in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the Cooper Union.

More About Carla

Jerry Li (MFA 4D Design 2021)

Left: Steve Kuypers (MFA 4D Design 2021), Right: Michael Candy (MFA 4D Design 2023). Photo: Brian Kovach (MFA Photography 2021)

Program

The 4D program embraces the fields of Experience Design (XD, UX), Interaction Design (IxD), and other time-based, technology-driven, interactive fields..

Cranbrook’s 4D Design program centers around a communal studio environment where exceptional designers, artists, and technologists will explore the intersection of the physical and the digital to create prototypes, products, and provocations in the form of interactive objects, dynamic displays, and mixed reality environments. Work produced in the program grows from each individual’s pursuit of a line of inquiry that incites passion and reflects personal values.

The program welcomes applicants from engineering and/or computer science who want to be immersed in a rigorous culture of creative practice and critical thinking, as well as those with design, art, or architecture experience who wish to focus their work on technological implications to pursue a higher level of discourse. Each cohort will be comprised of a carefully curated mix of individuals whose viewpoints and skillsets complement one another, encouraging a rich dynamic of rapid and continuous knowledge sharing.

Still have questions about the program? Are you wondering, “what is the fourth D?” Click on our “Frequently Asked Questions” below for more information.

4D Design Department FAQs

Program

The 4D studio culture is defined by hacking, making, coding, and obsessive tinkering.

Program

The 4D studio culture is defined by hacking, making, coding, and obsessive tinkering.

Students will advance their knowledge through passionate research, active prototype creation and iteration and strategic alliances with experts and sources of inspiration. As with the other disciplines in the Academy, the core program activity centers around studio-based projects with an emphasis on developing an individual body of work. Students delve deeply into a personal area of interest while engaging with other members of their cohort to collectively fuel knowledge through ongoing dialogue and regularly scheduled critique. In addition to the program-specific critiques, students will participate in Academy-wide reviews. 4D designers will also serve as disciplinary ambassadors by welcoming alliances that can benefit ambitious projects while matching their own educational goals.

4D Design

4D students build upon the following areas of exploration:

1. Dynamic product behaviors
2. Machine learning
3. Expressive coding
4. Systems visualization
5. Embedded electronics and applied robotics
6. Connected devices and product ecosystems
7. Augmented, virtual and mixed reality
8. Voice control and conversational interfaces
9. 3D printing and material creation
10. Biometrics, prosthetics, and augmentation
11. Telepresence and avatars

4D Design

Facilities

4D Design is housed in a state-of-the-art facility that was custom designed for the new program. Each student is given studio space dedicated to their focused work and ongoing projects. Equipment includes soldering and electronics assembly work stations and digital fabrication equipment:

Tormach 1100M Four Axis CNC Milling Machine
Prusa i3 3D Printers
Makerbot Replicator Z18 Large Build Volume FDM Printer
Form Labs Form 3 UV SLA Printer
Tronrud Engineering TC-2 Digital Jacquard Loom
Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine
Glowforge Laser Cutter
Mayku vacuum former
Flat-screen displays
Projectors
Shaper Origin Handheld CNC Router
Creality CR-Scan 3D Scanner
Roland 24 Vinyl Cutter
VR Headsets
Several sewing machines for wearable electronics and soft goods prototyping

We also have a space dedicated to virtual, augmented, and mixed reality that includes VR headsets, a ceiling-mounted grid for hanging projectors, and RGBd cameras.

4D Design students have access to Cranbrook’s excellent central facilities for fabrication in metals, wood, ceramics, fiber, and other materials as well as the Academy’s Central Media Lab which houses large format printers, computer stations, a theater, and a photography studio.

Student interacting with projection mapping, sound performance by artists otdotjo and Detroit Bureau of Sound. Photo: Ena Kantardžić

Mikael Jorgensen, Keyboardist from WILCO leading an experimental sound and improvisation workshop

4D Design

Visiting Artists, Designers, and Catalysts

4D Catalysts are internationally recognized experts in various areas of design for emerging technology who have an ongoing relationship with the program. They will work directly with students through lectures and workshops in active engagements that will take a variety of forms such as charrette challenges with specific design prompts, one-on-one critiques, studio tours, and targeted research projects. Catalysts are carefully selected to represent a spectrum of current ideas and contribute to the collective voice of the program.

For example, Motomichi Nakamura joined us in 2020 to inspire the department and share his knowledge of small-scale projection mapping installations. Students learned to use the craft for their own practices and were able to consult with Motomichi on an ongoing basis as specific project needs arose.

More About Visiting Artists at Cranbrook