Mission Statement of IDRP: On Being Interdisciplinary 

The concept of interdisciplinary design is both a popular concept as well as one that is in need of definition.  The first difficulty is that the very word “interdisciplinary” resists any single disciplinary definition of the term.  The Interdisciplinary Design and Research e-Publication, IDRP, is therefore committed to exploring the broad domain of interdisciplinary design by means of a wide range of topical foci. The first volume, for example, considers Design + Health; the second volume considers Design + Livability. The IDRP is launched with the goal that, over time, its accumulated volumes will contribute towards a clear but nevertheless multi-faceted definition of interdisciplinary design.

All of this stems from our conviction that, while being interdisciplinary is certainly not about working within a single discipline, it is also not about several disciplines working together. Being interdisciplinary is about being a human being. That is what this publication means by being interdisciplinary. But, this said, the IDRP aims to flesh-out the meaning of this broad concept by seeking contributions from as wide an audience, practicing in as wide a range of venues, as possible. 

We therefore welcome research articles and design projects addressing any facet of being interdisciplinary in design. And we welcome submissions from across the spectrum of life experience: from education and practice, from medicine to the natural and social sciences, from the arts, from the public sector, and from the design fields.

A new volume of IDRP is published at the beginning of each calendar year, with the first issue. Contributors may continue to submit papers and projects on the focus of each volume, so that subsequent issues of the same volume may be issued during the course of the year, depending upon the quality of the on-going submissions. 

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ISSN: 1939-4659

Sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Design Institute of Washington State University.

The Design Institute is a center where faculty, practitioners, undergraduate as well as graduate students in Architecture, Interior Design, and Landscape Architecture come together to learn in an interdisciplinary setting, to share ideas, and to grow in ability to practice and research in the design fields.