On the Significance of Architecture & Participatory Design Engagement

“We cannot just sit passively in the cave of architecture as-it-exists, waiting for social rebirth to generate architecture as-it-will-be automatically. We must change the whole range of objects and subjects which participate in the architectural process at present. There is no other way to recover architecture’s historical legitimacy, or indeed, restore its credibility.”

Unlike other artistic and creative professions, architecture almost always reflects the age and cultural context in which it was produced (seemingly mandatory in a way), which is how we’ve come to have so many styles within architecture dating all the way back to prehistoric times up to the modern movement today. Whenever we learn about ancient cultures, the first thing that often comes to mind or we point to first is the architecture of the time because it is truly expressive of who they were as a people. Take ancient Egypt for example, the pyramids, ancient temples, and great Sphinx give us an idea of how they regarded their ruling figures, their religion and even the land from which they drew their building materials from. I think it’s safe to say these architectural feats wouldn’t have even been possible had it not been for the time and effort put in by the larger community that really cared and took pride in sculpting the built environment in which they lived.

“The neighbourhoods and buildings planned ‘for’ the users decay because the users, not having participated in their planning, are unable to appropriate them and therefore have no reason to defend them.”

So quite frankly, architecture can’t happen within a small bubble or vacuum and can never truly have just one author. It takes time, money, lots of effort, and most importantly collaboration in order to get the job done properly; which involves everybody from the client, to the architect, to the stakeholders and community, to the contractor, to the engineer, to the civic officials that sometimes must approve these designs and etc. The ability of architecture to explain its age happens whether a building is an elaborate work of art or even just a banal standby which is why as architects we must understand the role which we play in the greater scheme of things. I think the big question facing the profession moving forward is not just reaching out to the public or users for feedback to provide ourselves with validation for our designs, but how do we provide for more equitable participatory design engagements?