Catena: Collaboration, Cohesion and Continuity in Design Thinking and Making

In the interests of enhanced collaborative methods of design thinking, design communication, representation and rapid ideation, this article examines how a series of related activities and events, ‘catenated’ together, or forming a ‘catena’1 of design thinking, could create a clearer, more meaningful and more efficient portfolio of work for a beginning design studio. Drawing inspiration upon the operative verbs found in the work of sculptor Richard Serra,2 and using the artefacts from such activities to create generative design products and iterations across a semester schedule, this paper chronicles a series of active in-class collaborations over the course of a semester that allowed a cohort of students to connect a series of design projects together, rather than experience a series of unconnected learning objectives as was typical. References to learning theories including Jerome Bruner’s spiral curriculum and David Kolb’s theory of experiential learning3 informed the inquiry. Student feedback and reflection informed the areas of success and areas of improvement