MIRELLE PHILLIPS

ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Mirelle Q. Phillips is the Founder and CEO of Studio Elsewhere, a design and technology company developing bio-experiential technology to support research and treatment for brain health challenges. Merging the best aspects of a design studio, technology company, and research lab, the Studio’s model allows for true partnerships with researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals to reimagine the experience of brain health, wellness, and care. Studio Elsewhere has been selected to represent the first-ever New York City pavilion at the 2021 London Design Biennale and selected to design the United Nations Pavilion for the World Expo 2021. 

As a Latina Founder and innovator, Phillips is a passionate advocate for women of color in STEM. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and previously led Experiential Design in the video game industry.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER TALK

A Floating Bridge
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021
RMCAD’s VASD Program kicked off its yearlong ATTENTION Series with designer Mirelle Phillips’s talk titled A Floating Bridge. In this talk, Phillips facilitated an inquiry into the way environments can shape our memory, experience, and our ability to heal and connect with others. Borrowing from the disparate, yet interconnected, disciplines of Japanese garden design, open-world video games, polar expeditions, and musical concert design, Phillips explored how certain environmental experiences encourage singular, sustained attention and presentness both at the individual and collective level. Using this framework as a starting point, Phillips guided the audience through a journey of critical questions, stories and illuminations underpinning the design, creative technology development, and collaborative work Studio Elsewhere engages in to support the research, evaluation, and treatment of brain diseases and accessible mental health interventions. Stringing together projects ranging from multi-sensory generative environments for patients with critical neurological illnesses; a brain research lab for patients with treatment-resistant depression and Parkinson’s; a center for children with neuro disabilities; restorative rooms for healthcare workers during the pandemic; and holistic trauma-informed care environments for migrant and refugee youth, the talk invited the audience to co-imagine the work of dedicating our most valuable resources – time, attention, and collective energy – to some of our most complex and mysterious issues of health and wellbeing.  

Recommendation List

VASD Program guests provide a recommendation list that gives insight into their work, practice, and research. Designer Mirelle Phillips’s recommendations:

  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (book) 

  • A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Designs by Frank Wilczek (book) 

  • The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected by Marcelo Gleiser (book) 

  • A Leg to Stand On by Oliver Sacks (book) 

  • The Japanese Garden by Sophie Walker (book) 

  • How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett (book) 

  • Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (book) 

  • Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek Murthy (book) 

  • Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec (collaborative project/Book) 

  • The Collected Stories by William Trevor (book) 

  • The Complete Poems 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (book) 

  • Collected Poems by Seamus Heaney (book/audio book) 

  • Dear Life by Alice Munro (book) 

  • The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge (book) 

  • Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud (book) 

  • The Patternist Series: Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Patternmaster by Octavia Butler (book) Emergent Strategies by adrienne maree brown (book) 

  • Silence in the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge (book) 

  • Philosophy for Polar Explorers by Erling Kagge (book) 

  • The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery (book) 

  • The Song of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors by David Haskell (book) 

  • Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty (book) 

  • A Grief Observed by CS Lewis (book) 

  • Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín (book)

  • The Blue Moment by Richard Williams (book) 

  • Conversations in Jazz: The Ralph J. Gleason Interviews by Ralph J. Gleason (book) 

  • How Music Works by David Byrne (book) 

  • Work in Progress: A Year in the Life by Rene Redzepi (book) 

  • It Began with a Dream: Dr. Gladys B. West by Geoffrey Buckle West (book) 

  • Figuring by Maria Popova (book) 

  • Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (book) 

  • Mar Adentro /The Sea Inside, 2004 Film by Alejandro Amenábar 

  • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 2007 Film by Julian Schnabel 

  • Away from Her, 2006 Film by Sarah Polley 

  • Arrival, 2016 Film by Denis Villeneuve 

  • Zelda: Breath of the Wild by Nintendo (videogame)  

  • The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim by Bethesda (videogame)  

  • To the Moon by Freebird Games (videogame)  

  • What Remains of Edith Finch by Annapurna Interactive (videogame)  

  • Gone Home by Fullbright (videogame)  

  • Flower/Journey/Sky by thatgamecompany (videogame) 

  • Ori and the Blind Forest by Moon Studios (videogame)  

  • That Dragon, Cancer by Numinous Games (videogame)  

  • Stardew Valley by Concerned Ape (videogame)  

  • Florence by Annapurna Interactive, iOS (Mobile Game) 

  • Monument Valley by Ustwo (Mobile Game)

Recharge Room. Photography by Maksim Axelrod. Courtesy of Mirelle Phillips.

Private events for rmcad community

Next Day Q+A

Wednesday, September 15, 2021
RMCAD students, faculty, and staff gathered for a casual conversation with visiting designer Mirelle Phillips to ask questions about her work, and career, and get professional advice from this accomplished and innovative contemporary designer.

Students and faculty gathering on the Carpenter Lawn for a Q + A session with Mirelle.

Design Challenge Workshop

FOUND DESIGN CHALLENGE WORKSHOP WITH MIRELLE PHILLIPS
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

In this workshop, Interior Design and Experimental Studies classes participated in a session inspired by Studio Elsewhere’s Lab Friday practice. Students created an interactive experience using found materials anywhere near the workshop site as an exploration of that theme. Over the course of the challenge, Phillips worked with each group to provide construction help and feedback to aid their creative and collaborative process. 

Students participating in the workshop.

Mirelle experiencing a student’s workshop project.

Mirelle providing students with feedback during the workshop.