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Laura Kozak

Assistant Professor

Availability:

Education:

BFA
MASArch

Bio

Laura Kozak has published and presented papers at Participatory Design Conference, PIVOT: A World of Many Centers, Cumulus, The Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD) and the Service Design and Innovation Conference (ServDes). She is a past president of 221A Artist Run Centre Society and a recipient of ECU’s Ian Wallace Award for Teaching Excellence. She holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture from UBC and a BFA from Emily Carr.

Websites:

Research Interests

Laura’s place-based research is focused on food practices and climate justice. She is a member of ECU’s DESIS Lab, and works to form durable, community-based relationships through interdisciplinary collaboration, field work and participatory action research. Getting outside is central to her work. In 2023, she co-led a Climate Justice Field School for sustainability planners and policy-makers at the City of Vancouver in collaboration with a renowned group of cultural and social justice practitioners. She is part of an interdisciplinary team working on Mapping swiya, which draws on shíshálh ways of knowing to re-surface stories of time and place, and is co-leading the Circular Food Innovation Lab in collaboration with numerous food businesses, food rescue organizations, local Nations, City of Vancouver Engineering Services and Solutions Lab.

Courses

Course Name Department Course Code Term
Foundation Studio Courses FNDT 108 26/FA

Description

This course explores a range of creative processes to develop ways to connect thinking, making, and writing in an art and design context. Students will learn to contextualize projects in social, political, ecological and personal ways and engage in creative problem solving through iteration, experimentation, improvisation, and adapting to accidental discoveries as a generative part of the creative process. Through process-based learning and practice, students will experiment with interdisciplinary explorations framed by research skill development through collaborative projects, peer reviews, discussions, individual assignments, and critique-based studio sessions. Students will produce multiple versions of ideas from concept to content to creatively solve problems while determining new ways to view art + design practice overall.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Foundation Studio Courses FNDT 108 26/FA

Description

This course explores a range of creative processes to develop ways to connect thinking, making, and writing in an art and design context. Students will learn to contextualize projects in social, political, ecological and personal ways and engage in creative problem solving through iteration, experimentation, improvisation, and adapting to accidental discoveries as a generative part of the creative process. Through process-based learning and practice, students will experiment with interdisciplinary explorations framed by research skill development through collaborative projects, peer reviews, discussions, individual assignments, and critique-based studio sessions. Students will produce multiple versions of ideas from concept to content to creatively solve problems while determining new ways to view art + design practice overall.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Interaction Design INTD 300 26/FA

Description

This 6-credit core studio allows for an intensive project-based learning experience in interaction design. Students will be exposed to skills and theories that build on the knowledge from second year, expand their design capacities, and prepare them to work independently in fourth year.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.