Architecture for the Neighborhood
As architects working for developers, how do we build in such a way that we are supporting the local neighborhood more than just a development idea?
Architects have the ability to educate developers on the benefits of designing for the neighborhoods. We should be generating more data to explain why this approach works. We should be looking at research and essays like Margret Crawford's to explain the importance at looking at the existing independent development of the people. Looking at the existing needs in an area on the micro scale leads to questions like:
What is the existing micro-economy of the people?
What would they like to see here - a coffee shop? a bar?
What are problems that exist in this area and does what's being designed address those problems?
How a restaurant does after it is built will tell you if it was a good idea or a poor one. If no one goes to the restaurant and within a year it is out of business, should there even have been a restaurant built there to begin with? Maybe it should have been a library. Now you have an empty building that generates a certain level of waste.
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| photo via Chicago Reader |
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| photo via MEAction |
I agree with what you have to say. Architecture is so much more than just building things. Sometimes it makes sense to look at the greater context of a space and provide advice and feedback to our clients about whether or not their project will be viable. In your example of using a restaurant that didn't receive any traffic, could the architect have done research to determine up front that building a restaurant there wouldn't be feasible? The issue is, these feasibility studies take a lot of time and cost money and a lot of times clients don't want to pay for them. So again, its back to how do we find a balance and what is our duty as the architect and what isn't.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! When I read your ideas about developers and the surrounding community, it came to my mind that unfortunately many large developments seek to replace the existing community with a new, higher paying one. That being said, I think an important role of the architect is definitely informing and challenging projects that will gentrify communities, even if it means loosing some work...
ReplyDeleteIt's very rare for a business like a restaurant to go into business without doing market research and coming up with a business plan. However, these efforts are usually impersonal research based around existing data. What if architects provided market research by engaging in design activities with a neighborhood. Could we add an important qualitative analysis to the businessman quantitative data?
ReplyDeleteThat's true. A responsible architect is not just making layout for the design and attracting space design for the project, he should consider how the space that he design would actually been used for? And this will be assumed by market research if he knows before the design. If the market research don't support the result, maybe he should think of another strategy.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that's really on us to educate developers about our concerns. Communication with compelling documents and analysis are strong tools in our hand. I think we should take the responsibility of deficiencies in post occupancy evaluation and put time to learn what the reasons behind the problems are.
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