HOLD THE DOOR: Examining a two-year cross-cohort prototyping project

The useful life of a prototype created in an education project typically ends when the project ends. The longitudinal use of these educational outcomes, prototypes, has seen little attention in design education. This pictorial examines the practical design activities on a student-built entrance that was handed over from the first-year students to the new first year students in the following cohort. By turning this often bypassed area into an environment for exploration, we ask, how did the students’ design activities evolve when building such an environment versus using it for further learning? Between the years, the role of the prototype changed from a focus of interaction to Means of Inquiry. The materiality of the entrance was radically different between the years, suggesting a way to achieve long-term benefit with less budget. We conclude by discussing four perspectives that emerged from the cross-cohort prototyping.