Change the Conversation
Transformation is linguistic, the work is to change the conversation or to have a conversation you have never had before. As architects we cannot address or fix everything but we can ask the right questions and listen for the answers. This was a major topic of conversation while being a part of the Community Build program in Charleston. The installation of being out in the field, boots on the ground, engaging the client, the users, and the community to gain an understanding of what the product lends itself to be.
“Identifying a user's needs does not mean planning for them but planning with them.”
We may be the “professionals” but cannot forget that we are also citizens. There is a point to which we may react as positively or negatively to something that happens in our own personal community that we did not architecturally have control over and we should remember that when we go into other communities we are not from. The other side of the story. We have the ability to use our specialization and educate people on the possibilities without discouraging or disrespecting them. We have the ability to enable the citizen by being a citizen ourselves and listening with care for the people. Allowing them to become powerful by standing on the other side - the side of “those who bear architecture” and shifting the context in their favor. Whether it be verbally or, like Aravena said, physically through building capacity we have the ability to enable at least this.
“Identifying a user's needs does not mean planning for them but planning with them.”
We may be the “professionals” but cannot forget that we are also citizens. There is a point to which we may react as positively or negatively to something that happens in our own personal community that we did not architecturally have control over and we should remember that when we go into other communities we are not from. The other side of the story. We have the ability to use our specialization and educate people on the possibilities without discouraging or disrespecting them. We have the ability to enable the citizen by being a citizen ourselves and listening with care for the people. Allowing them to become powerful by standing on the other side - the side of “those who bear architecture” and shifting the context in their favor. Whether it be verbally or, like Aravena said, physically through building capacity we have the ability to enable at least this.
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| Aravena, Housing Projects |
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| Attending community outreach events alongside our client The Greenheart Project in Charleston. |
I think there is a power in feedback that we are not exploiting. If we are designing for the people, as architects we should see it as our duty to receive feedback from our designs so we do not commit the same mistakes we think we are "doing right" over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you made the point that we too are also citizens and making a call for us to get off our high horses and humble ourselves when approaching a design solution.
ReplyDeleteI so fully agree, and we must remember that we are designing structures for other people to use - it ultimately comes down to the users needs over our own personal agenda... and I think that is lost A LOT in architecture, but specifically architecture school. Clemson's CommunityBUILD program does a great job of bringing design back to the grass-root community engagement that it really should be.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, in addition to being professionals we are first and foremost citizens. I think that is why sometimes we as architects also believe we know better or what people really want, by making assumptions based off of our own experiences when our opinions only represent a small minority within the general whole and community. I think one of the most important lessons I learned from the community build studio was just being able to speak to the client and stakeholders about the project without any of the architectural jargon we usually tend to spit out when speaking to other architects or professors which I think touches on the point you bring up of "the ability to enable the citizen by being a citizen ourselves."
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