Conference PaperCollaborative Housing Design: A Case Study on Developing Learning Activities that Cross Cultural, Climatic and Geographical DifferencesNicewonger, Todd [Virginia Tech]; McNair, Lisa [Virginia Tech] (ORCID:0000000166542337)Not AvailableIn Designs for the Pluriverse, Arturo Escobar argues that the act of designing involves “much more than the creation of objects”; it also produces “diverse forms of life and, often, contrasting notions of sociability and the world” (2018: 3). In our anthropological fieldwork with Alaska Native communities that have grappled with housing insecurity issues for multiple generations, we have found this concept to be a reality. As we learned about collaborative housing design practices in Alaska, we found that socio-material artifacts are useful for engaging with a wide range of critical stakeholders. Alternative design frameworks are needed to address the complexity of problems and solutions in remote Alaskan villages, where technological and cultural practices can contrast in settings of extreme climate conditions. As engineering students prepare for complex challenges like those faced in Alaska, they must learn ways of adapting to and developing alternative design frameworks. Drawing on Escobar’s frame of “sociability,” we have developed a series of design learning activities that guide students in alternative design projects while learning about the Alaskan context using situated examples from our anthropological fieldwork and research. In learning contexts ranging from design courses to community co-design and engineering workshops that we are currently planning, we are integrating active learning activities that bring our experiences to the classroom and offer opportunities for learners to imagine, hack, and make. In this paper, we explore theoretical and alternative design frameworks for integrating research into school and work, using a studentdesigned learning artifact called AlaskaCraft as an example of how the complexity of this history and research has made its way into the classroom.ASEE Conferences2025-06-0110664615https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--561052321931designactive learningcomplexityanthropologyAlaskahousingNational Science Foundation