In 2000, theatre designer and past Master of the Faculty of RDIs, Timothy O'Brien, and Chris Wise, structural engineer and current Master of the Faculty, set up the first RDI Summer School.
The school is a chance for Faculty members to share their knowledge and experience with younger designers. The aim is to challenge participants to think differently and to break down boundaries between disciplines and generations.
Each year, around ten RDIs meet thirty young designers, each with between 3 and 15 years professional experience, and five 'wild cards' (people from occupations outside design) to work intensively together. The young designers are invited to apply for a place and apart from a nominal registration fee all accommodation, subsistence and travel to the venue from London is generously supported by sponsorship.
The projects are abstract and intellectually challenging, relying on the use of the imagination rather than pragmatic methods of design. The value of the task derives from its difficulty - the difficulty of the unfamiliar and unexpected and the difficulties of collaboration.
The Summer School is a four-day residential event, which is held in a remote location. It liberates participants from the interruptions of everyday life so they may use imagination as an instrument of self-discovery.
The experience can have a profound and inspiring effect on those who attend, and the results reverberate out into professional practice.
