- In its sixth yr, the annual analysis collaboration continues to look at the convergence of biodesign and biomimicry, superior artwork and design practices, and the way forward for mobility throughout the globe
- Within the 2025–26 Regeneration Studio, school and college students discover the theme of “Tangible Futures” through two programs and complementary programming
Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) and Rhode Island College of Design (RISD) are happy to proceed their pioneering multiyear analysis partnership exploring the connection between nature, artwork and design, and the way forward for mobility round this yr’s theme of “Tangible Futures.”
Now in its sixth yr, the collaboration brings collectively RISD school and workers members, scholar researchers, and designers from Hyundai Motor, Genesis and Kia working collectively to discover modern supplies, merchandise, manufacturing strategies, companies, and experiences. The Regeneration Studio, led by a sophisticated scientific workforce in RISD’s Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab, is bringing to life completely new ideas in bio-innovation, analyzing pure environments, techniques, processes, and organisms with the intent to design a extra round and fewer dangerous human-planet relationship.
The programming for the yr includes a fall biodesign studio course, a spring superior studio course, and an prolonged summer time analysis alternative, together with weeklong intensives and fellowships for Hyundai Motor Group designers and engineers. These programs, supported by the Industrial Design division and the Nature Lab, function as an interdisciplinary workspace for a cohort of scholars from a number of departments on campus. Inside this framework, school and college students work in dialog with Hyundai Motor Group design engineers on analysis and demanding inquiry relating to sustainable improvements, ideations, and ecological futurity.
“We’re thrilled to proceed our collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group,” mentioned RISD President Crystal Williams. “Our work collectively reinforces our shared dedication to advancing society by the exploration of modern supplies, merchandise, strategies, companies, and experiences. It has been a pleasure for RISD, by the Regeneration Studio, to be supported by South Korean designers who’ve grow to be trusted colleagues and thought companions. We look ahead to one other productive yr of this forward-looking relationship.”
“Our inventive journey begins and ends with folks, with the human expertise at its core,” mentioned SangYup Lee, Government Vice President and Head of Hyundai & Genesis World Design. “But, we glance to the knowledge of nature to information us – humbled by its timeless classes on sustainability and impressed to reimagine how we transfer. By way of the Regeneration Studio, we’re not solely exploring new design potentialities but additionally deepening our dedication to a future the place mobility is regenerative, human-centered, and in concord with the residing world.”
The Regeneration Studio conducts investigations deeply knowledgeable by scientific understanding of the pure world with superior studio pedagogies and modern methods of creating. Not like a conventional program sponsorship, the distinctive partnership continues to carry innovation by differentiated approaches. From September 2025 by Could 2026, college students will have interaction in two studio programs that mix scientific rigor with inventive inquiry, working carefully with school and the Nature Lab workers to discover deep biomimicry and biodesign methodologies. By way of this immersive course of, college students will examine modern supplies, merchandise, manufacturing strategies, companies, and experiences—advancing regenerative design and shaping tangible futures.
In the summertime, groups of Hyundai Motor Group designers and engineers have interaction in a five-day session on campus, and choose Sustainability Fellows totally immerse themselves in creating regenerative methods and structural improvements throughout the Nature Lab throughout an eight-week keep.
“It’s exactly as a result of RISD has such an affect on the world of design that we by no means relaxation on our laurels. With such affect comes a accountability we welcome and one we’re delighted to carry as we proceed our deeply significant partnership with the Hyundai Motor Group – we amplify superior design options that restore our relationship with residing techniques,” mentioned RISD Provost Touba Ghadessi. “In doing so, we create actionable outcomes immediately that construct on ecologically-minded design and nature-based epistemologies, whereas carving a path for future designers and researchers who will construct on this legacy. Right now, collectively, HMG and Hyundai create the simply future all of us want to envision, not just for mobility options, however for generations of people who share this planet and need to replenish its sources.”
“We design tomorrow with nature’s knowledge,” mentioned Karim Habib, Government Vice President and Head of Kia World Design. “By observing nature and drawing inspiration from it, we envision a future the place the mark made by humanity echoes our accountability towards the planet – formed by the choices we make immediately.”
The Regeneration Studio continues to construct upon the distinctive collaborative analysis platform designed solely for Hyundai Motor Group in 2019 by RISD Educational & Artistic Partnerships (previously known as Strategic Partnerships) and the Nature Lab. RISD school and Nature Lab scientists and researchers have guided college students by varied modes of inquiry for the reason that collaboration started. Hyundai Motor Group designers present helpful suggestions all through the method.
To obtain high-resolution pictures of this venture, movies, and different artifacts, please go to right here.
