Described as a laboratory for visual mathematics, the Design Science Studio in Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts was a site for interdisciplinary experimentation and hands-on learning. It was the invention and classroom of Dr. Arthur Lee Loeb (1923-2002), a Dutch crystallographer who taught courses in synergetic geometry in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) from 1970-2002. The VES concentration taught students to look, think, and speak about images. The Design Science Studio trained them to engage with spatial complexities. Through the study and making of models, they learned how to recognize patterns and identify generalized spatial principles that could be applied to the built environment.

Inside the Design Science Studio examines Loeb’s approach to teaching and learning through the objects and documents that surrounded him. Comprising course materials, student assignments, geometric models, tessellation prints, natural specimens, and books, the Arthur Loeb Design Science Teaching Collection and Archive at RISD is a material record of Loeb’s influence as a teacher, scientist, artist and collaborator. It documents the intersection of scientific methods and artistic processes within design education. Loeb’s widow and frequent collaborator, Charlotte (Lotje) Aarts Loeb, donated the collection to RISD in 2006, to ensure its continued use for education of artists and designers.