The Istituto del Design carries out scientific research projects in collaboration with Italian and international universities and research centers, with the direct involvement of faculty and students.
PREFERENCE FOR CURVILINEAR CONTOUR IN LIVING ROOMS
Over the last decades there has been much interest in preference for curved over sharp-angled contours in interior design. In light of this interest, prof.ssa M. Sinatra with her colleagues, arch. L.M. Barile, prof.ssa M. Petrelli, and the students of the Institute of Design, in cooperation with some colleagues of the University of Foggia, the Berliner Max Planck Institute and the Polytechnic of Tirana (Albania), are conducting an empirical research on this phenomenon by investigating the effect of interior space contour — curvilinear vs. rectilinear — with experts (designers) and non-experts.
Participants rate photographs of living rooms — half on a dichotomous beauty scale and half on a dichotomous willingness to enter/exit scale — to indicate whether it is a space they would like to enter or leave. Further assessment instruments, such as personality tests, are added in order to provide a more complete picture of such an effect. Descriptive statistics, regression analyses, etc. are run.
The authors plan to publish the research in indexed journals.
LIGHT, SHAPES AND COLORS
Theories, poetics and languages of expression — Scientific research project, a.y. 2022–2023 / 2023–2024 / 2024–2025
Purpose — This three-year research project (from a.y. 2022-2023 to a.y. 2024-2025) aims to promote scientific culture in the field of design, engaging students and faculty of the Level 1 Academic Diploma Program in Design at IdD Matera in paths that, through planned strategies, ensure the correct combination of the rigorous language of science and that of design as an expression of the creative-conceptual processes involved in investigating the productive reality.
The educational impact of the project, which focuses on color design and lighting techniques in various contexts — residential, urban, school and work spaces — concerns the development of professional profiles better suited to meeting the needs of various brands and, more generally, to facing the challenges of the most recent demands of the job market.
Scientific-disciplinary sectors involved in the Research Project: ABPR30 (Materials Typology — New Materials Technology); ABPR17 (Design — Ecodesign — Product design); ABST47 (Style, history of art and costume); ABST48 (History of Design); ABTEC37 (Design Methodology for Visual Communication); ABST58 (Theory of Perception and Psychology of Form); ABAV01 (Elements of Morphology and Dynamics of Form); ABST50 (History of Contemporary Architecture); ABVPA64 (Exhibition Design — Exhibition Space Design).
Research Coordinators: Prof. Michelina Petrelli and Prof. Maria Sinatra
Project structure and timeline
The project also includes seminars, congresses, conferences and workshops to disseminate the research results, as well as collaborations with other national and international, public and private research organizations.
