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PRACTICE

The academic part presents student works performed within the framework of term and degree design assignments at the Department of Industrial Design at USUAA.

The uniting objective of the educational program «Design for Extreme Environments» is design forecasting of a New Culture of the North. This is a Master’s degree program in industrial design developing knowledge, abilities and skills to resolve problems associated with human life in the Russian North.

The principal directions of design research are differentiated by duration of stay in the extreme climatic and natural conditions:

A single trip to the North: development of infrastructure for all kinds of tourism, including promising/predicted ones («ethnotourism», «ecotourism», «adventure tourism», etc.) with reference to the Urals and Siberia

Rotational shift-work visits or short-term stay in the North: ensuring comfortable conditions of work and short-term stay in the field for the workers of the oil and gas companies in Western Siberia

Permanent residence in the North: development of conceptual proposals for mobile and stationary dwellings on permafrost

An important feature of all projects devoted to human life and work in the extreme environment of the Arctic North is their basic versatility and adaptability of forms, structure and principles of spatial design to any type of extreme living. The basis of the design solutions is comprehensive development of the physical and spatial environment (transport, housing, clothing) as a single life support module.