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Gil Barros

Sessional Faculty

Availability:

Education:

PhD, Architecture and Design
MSc, Electrical Engineering
Degree in Architecture and Urbanism

Bio

Gil is a multidisciplinary designer, researcher and educator specializing in interaction, communication and service design. Originally from Brazil, he holds a PhD in Architecture and Design, an MSc in Electrical Engineering, and a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of São Paulo. Gil was a Visiting Professor at UBC's School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and a professor at FAUUSP (Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo), one of the world's top design programs.

Research Interests

Gil's approach to teaching is informed by his research in Interaction Design, Strategic Design and design methods. He has more than fifteen years of experience working for design agencies and as a sole proprietor, with projects for private and public sectors, as well as international clients and multicultural teams in São Paulo and San Francisco. His recent research investigates disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to design methods, design metacognition, and the role of design as an "expanded field." As a Brazilian living overseas, he is also committed to initiatives related to decolonization, peripheric and participatory design, and more inclusive and equitable practices.

Courses

Course Name Department Course Code Term
Graduate Studies Design GSMD 511 27/SP

Description

The discourse within and about methods in design has become a highly active and fertile field. Students will enter into the discourse about practice through exposure to the theoretical literature, as well as through the research about designing. The objective will be to develop a personal capacity to use design methods systematically to generate superior insight and understanding of problem spaces and solution potentials from both the need side and the affordance side. The student will learn to merge design methods within their thesis project work plan. Familiarity with the range of approaches (methodology) will permit the student to develop the particular framework, tools and procedures (methods) that can realize the type of knowledge he or she is pursuing. The development of these means will flow directly into the end deliverables that constitute the student's program, in particular the thesis project and its exposition. The design methods developed in this course describe the path that the student is taking in the thesis project. The writing and diagramming of that path will be a major part of the written exposition that complements studio production in the mediums of choice.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Graduate Studies Design GSMD 600 26/FA

Description

Students will focus on their independent thesis project as the primary focus of the semester. Applying primary research conducted over the summer, students will develop their design, realized as some form of prototype/model for user testing. Outcomes include a public presentation of the thesis project early in the semester, and a substantially completed project by the end of the semester. Thesis projects may be experimental, research-oriented, educational or pragmatic, but remain directly relevant to the discipline of a design practice. The thesis project is an opportunity to demonstrate at an advanced level the integration of knowledge represented by the discipline of designing. The thesis project may exist as a designed artifact, service or system, environmental intervention, meaningful communication, media presentation, or any interactive adaption of the above. The thesis project is comprised of a production in some medium as well as a written component that progressively situates the production in and reflects on context. These two components - an innovation through media and the written contextualization of such a process, comprise the thesis project.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.