IDENTITY/LIGHT
SS 2026
Atelier Karel / Šafařík
Atelier Karel / Šafařík has long been dedicated to work at the intersection of design, art, technology, and social reflection. Teaching is conceived as a studio–seminar model based on research, experimentation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and work with both real and open-ended use cases.
IDENTITY – Team Project
Identity is understood as a process rather than a fixed attribute—it emerges through relationships, over time, and in interaction with environment, technology, and culture. Students work in teams (2–4 members), typically on a real use case (company, institution, target group), developing a rebranding, a new identity, or the communication of a product or service toward the public.
At the same time, students may work on open and interdisciplinary use cases connected to collaborations of Atelier Karel and partner institutions within ČVUT and beyond. This option is intended for students who wish to operate at the boundaries of the discipline.
Team Roles
Roles within the team are clearly defined.
A master’s student acts as the project leader and is responsible for conceptual direction, team coordination, methodological guidance of bachelor’s students, and communication with external partners. Bachelor’s students contribute to the project in specific roles (research, design, prototyping, testing).
LIGHT – Individual Project
Light is explored as a physical, perceptual, and cultural phenomenon. The individual project enables the development of an authorial approach through a product, object, installation, spatial intervention, or experimental format. Work within a real-world context is also possible (e.g., light festivals, manufacturers, Designblok, DIY or open-source platforms).
MATERIAL INTERVENTION – GLASS / EXPERIMENT
The individual project focused on the theme of Light allows students to work with various media, materials, and technologies depending on the chosen concept and authorial intent. The project may take the form of a concept, product, object, installation, spatial intervention, or experimental format.
Material intervention represents one possible approach to this assignment. In this context, glass is understood as one of several optional material choices, not as a mandatory or primary use case. It is not treated as a theme in itself, but as a field in which light and identity can become an event.
Thanks to its specific optical properties (transparency, reflection, refraction, diffusion), glass enables exploration of the relationship between object, space, and observer, as well as work with time, movement, and the variability of perception. Students who choose this path are guided toward an experimental, technological, and conceptual approach, in dialogue with contemporary manufacturing processes and digital tools.
Teaching Format
Studio-based teaching, thematic workshops, ongoing and public critiques, and consultations with external experts. Emphasis is placed on process, experimentation, documentation, ethics, accessibility “by design,” and transparent use of AI tools.
Assessment
Common Criteria
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Concept and relevance to the theme (IDENTITY / LIGHT) – 25%
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Execution, prototyping, technical and craft quality – 20%
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Process, context, research, sustainability, iteration, collaboration – 45%
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Presentation, defense, participation in critiques and workshops – 10%
Role-Specific Focus
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MgA. (project leader): emphasis on conceptual leadership, team coordination, and research integration
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Bc. (team member): emphasis on the quality of individual contribution and understanding of the theme
Semester Objective
The objective of the semester is to develop the ability to work with complex phenomena without clear-cut answers, to integrate material, light, and identity into meaningful design proposals, and to prepare students for current and future design practice within broader cultural, social, and technological contexts.