Hypothetical vs Reality

‘When we plan ‘for’ people – even if we overcome the alienation due to deciding and operating externally – we tend, once consensus is reached, to freeze it into permanent fact. … But if we plan ‘with’ people, consensus remains permanently open; it is renewed by confrontation with the planned event along the whole arc of its existence and, reciprocally, it renews the planned event by adapting it to the demands of a supporting apparatus which keeps redefining itself.’- Giancarlo De Carlo

In school, we place our vision on the hypothetical site and its hypothetical users. We attempt to interpret the needs of the user, without actually engaging directly with users. Who are the user of the architectural school project? Ourselves? Portfolio? We claim to design buildings and space for the benefits of the users every project that we assigned from the professor, but where are the users in the design process? We always focus on developing our own design ideas, and we present them to our professor to judge, critique, transform, and modify. Then we compare these projects to our classmate for a mini-competition. But where are the users throughout the entire educational process?

I agree that we are limited when we plan ‘for’ users, and it is very different when we plan ‘with’ the users. After the design-build project in Charleston, I realized the spaces that we design for the users maybe they actually don’t need it or don’t like it. I think working with the actual client and listen to the actual user is a challenge, but at the same time create more opportunities for the project and design the right space for the right need. I think for most of the architectural project, the only time they interact with the public is presenting the best rendering of their design, and we know that they are ‘fake’, they are a lie. When the building is actually built, not every room will be as bright as the render. In order to sell our design to the public, we have to convince them that this is the right solution to their needs with the rendering.

                                      Rendering                                              Actual