MASD at Design Week Portland!

Alumni in Action

Biomimicry: A Framework for Sustainable Design

Disrupt your thinking.
Flex your creativity.
Get a jolt of inspiration.

Envision your role in creating
a sustainable world.

We are all feeling an urgency to take action on climate change and sustainability. Designers have a unique ability to make change, but they need new sources of inspiration as well as a new problem-solving tool.

Come join Denise DeLuca and Stef Koehler (MASD 2013) for an engaging hands-on experience at Design Week Portland 2020! We’ll cover basics of Sustainable Design and Biomimicry and share tools of Bio-Inspired Design.

While playing with nature, you’ll sharpen your skills of observation and learn new tools for ideation.

You’ll leave with a worksheet you can use to practice bringing nature to your design table to create more innovative and sustainable solutions.

Brought to you by experts in the emerging field of Sustainable Design, we take you beyond recycling and composting and dig into design’s role in crafting a sustainable future.


This workshop is offered twice:
SUNDAY April 19 from 1:00 to 3:30pm and
TUESDAY April 21 from 3:30-6:00pm

Looking forward to meeting you there!


Can’t make it to Design Week Portland?
Or can’t get enough biomimicry?

Check out our fully online 5-week course
Introduction to Biomimicry: A Sustainable Design Methodology

Registration is open NOW!

Denise DeLuca / Former Director

Denise DeLuca is the Director of MCAD’s Sustainable Design program. She was co-founder of BCI: Biomimicry Creative for Innovation, a network of creative professional change agents driving ecological thinking for radical transformation. Denise is author of the book Re-Aligning with Nature: Ecological Thinking for Radical Transformation, which was illustrated by MASD alum Stephanie Koehler. She also teaches with the Amani Institute.

Denise’s previous roles include Education Director for the International Living Future Institute, Project Manager for Swedish Biomimetics 3000, and Outreach Director for The Biomimicry Institute. Denise is a licensed civil engineer (PE) and holds a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering with a focus on modeling landscape-scale surface and groundwater interactions.  In addition, Denise is a Biomimicry Fellow and a member of the Advisory Council of The Biomimicry InstituteBoard Member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP), on the editorial board of the Journal of Bionic Engineering, and an Expert with Katerva. Denise is based in Oregon.

contact:  [email protected]