Mapping Design Curriculum in Schools of Design and Schools of Engineering: Where do the Twains Meet?

Schools of engineering in established universities such as Purdue offer courses in engineering design which, ‘… allows (students) to apply the fundamentals of engineering and science to solve open-ended design problems’ and to learn a structured problem-solving process in the broad context of product design, considering marketing, problem definition, conceptual design, design evaluation, detailed design, manufacturability, and economic feasibility. To anyone teaching in a design school, it sounds like industrial design taught in a school of design. If both the schools proclaim that they teach ‘design’, then what are they teaching? Where is the difference? Where do they overlap? Where are the commonalities? This paper sets about mapping the typical courses taught at schools of design and schools of engineering offering undergraduate degrees in industrial design and mechanical engineering respectively. Through this the author highlights the possibility of a hybrid programme, which may represent the real world nature of design in the built environment today.