COmeta Lab
A decade-long experience of multidisciplinary meeting between design and autism to improve the quality of life for people with neurodevelopmental disabilities
The magazine “Oltre gli ostacoli”, which deals with topics related to the world of disability, dedicated the cover of its eighth issue to COmeta, a second-year Metaproject Laboratory of the Product Design course at the School of Design of the Politecnico di Milano, taught by Professors Giuliano Simonelli (first 6 editions), Venanzio Arquilla, Davide Genco, Fabio Guaricci.
The COmeta project aims to raise students' awareness of the social utility of design, placing ethical and environmental themes at the center of the educational process through the design of product concepts aimed at improving the quality of life of people with autism.
Psychologists, trainers and associations are involved during the course to enable young designers to adequately address the pathology, which involves a high degree of complexity, often unresolved or poorly studied and with a deep social impact. Visits to autism centers and field interviews with caregivers and people with autism facilitate data collection and students' understanding of the topic.
The interest in the topic has also prompted the faculty group to transform the Teaching Lab into a Teaching and Research Lab, which will soon launch the Open Cometa project, an open-source portal where projects can be made using the power of digital fabrication or independently by families and centers using 3D printers and simple DIY tools.
All project concepts developed in the ten editions can be found on the Lab's blog
You can read the full article in the attached magazine.