Interdisciplinary Design Studio (IDS) Spring ’20, which brings together real problems from our stakeholders with METU students from different disciplines, partnering with United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Gama Energy and British Nurol Aerospace (BNA), has started.

With support from the METU Technopolis and sponsored by industry and NGOs, METU Design Factory provides training, equipment, and infrastructure to interdisciplinary student teams for collaborative design projects. DTS brings students from different disciplines together in interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative products.

Under the name of Interdisciplinary Problem Solving, Interdisciplinary Design Studio course will be held between 9.00-12.30 on Fridays as an open elective course for students from all departments at METU.

Deadline for application: January 27, 2020, 11:59 PM

Link for the application: https://tf.metu.edu.tr/registration-3/

The retrospective exhibition of Burhan Alkan, the creator of “Space and Youth Monument” sculpture, curated by METU Design Factory and Murat Akın, will take place at METU.

We are waiting for everyone at the exhibition which will be opened on December 20, 2019 at 18:00 at METU Culture and Convention Center Exhibition Hall!

All of Burhan Alkar’s valuable works will be exhibited at METU Culture and Convention Center between 20 December 2019 – 15 January 2020.

On November 13, 2019, METU Design Factory hosted Marthe Dehli, one of the Design Factory Global Network coordinators. While discussing the developments in interstellar Design Factory family that we are happy to be a part of, the developing infrastructure and training-research-development projects of METU DF were introduced and possible collaborations with other Design Factories in different countries were discussed.

High school students from different regions of Turkey accompanied by METU students, visited METU Design Factory via METU Promotion Trip program. Design thinking, interdisciplinary and group collaboration techniques are presented to the attendants. Group activities to practise these techniques are also organized after the presentations.

7th Interdisciplinary Design Studio carried in the spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year has ended with the closing ceremony held in the METU Design Factory. Guests, both from academia and industry attended the closing ceremony. Four different groups of METU students studying different disciplines have offered innovative solutions after a period of study. These groups presented their studies in a 10-minute presentation and a Q&A session. Also, guests had the opportunity to talk and discuss the solutions with the groups after the presentations in the exhibition area.

This semester;

• “Elltech” sponsored by Arçelik designed a modular smart hanger controlled by a mobile application that manipulates and controls the moisture level of the hanging clothes by applying cold mist. This solution is also thought out to be a modular system so that different types of clothes can be optimally hanged and the user can form the device according to the user’s needs.
• “Smartru” sponsored by METU Smart Campus project presented an innovative solution to the transportation problem of the METU Campus by utilizing a mobile application.
• “Pelican” sponsored by Turkish Airlines Cargo developed a system solution for the Turkish Airlines cargo hub that includes tracking both the location and process of the cargo pallets using RFID. Also, they presented their automated cargo packaging solution to reduce human errors in the packaging process.
• “Nova” sponsored by Utarit designed solution to optimize widely used services in the METU campus such as the library and the inter-campus ring. The presented solution involved the usage of accumulating and analyzing the data collected by the smart card system that already being used on the campus. Group also presented a system to periodically report the analyzed usage data to the campus executives for them to act on the issues.

The Closing Ceremony of the 2018-2019 Spring Semester Interdisciplinary Design Studio, supported by METU TEKNOKENT and by the participation of non-governmental organizations and industry stakeholders, will be organized by the Middle East Technical University Design Factory on Friday, May 17, 2019 at 13:30. You can register via the link to join the event.

Organised by METU Rectorship, Ankara Directorate of Industry and Technology committee visited METU Design Factory as a part of a cooperation program between public administration, universities and industry. Activities conducted by METU Design Factory are described. Cooperation opportunities and the importance of design thinking and interdisiplinary work in research and development made by local industry is discussed.

2018-2019 Spring Semester Interdisciplinary Design Studio started with Arçelik, METU Smart Campus project, Turkish Airlines and Utarit stakeholders and students from different disciplines!