Acts of Transformation
Last week in our discussion of user participation in the design process we saw Maison Medicale, a project in which a high level of user participation was essential to the final design. However, this was a residential project for students - a transient population - so the question was raised whether or not this participation is relevant if entirely different users would occupy the building in just a few years? In this week's reading Habraken addresses this very question. "...In reality, use is neither static nor passive. Use marks the beginning and end of each act of transformation, forming part of the cycle of actions by which the built environment lives." Now as we look at the architecture of the ordinary, this cycle of transformations is allowed to happen freely, determining the form, spaces and materials. Despite two very different processes - one in which the architect mediates user feedback, and one in which the built environment develops without architects - the results have striking similarities. Does this design process of user participation just replicate what time would do naturally?
Kowloon Walled City
Maison Médicale
We talked earlier in the semester about time being a factor in the growth of cities and how it lacks in the proliferation of junkspace. We build bigger and faster today and can lose the ability to see small changes when large ones are so prevalent. We may not be able to accelerate time but the introduction of the user as a part of the design process can suggest changes that would happen over time.
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