The "WHY" > The "HOW"
Rather than designing top-down architecture for the clout, designers need to transition to creating projects inspired by the way people live. When starchitects create projects, they focus on the “how” of the project instead of engaging in the community and figuring out the “why.” This may lead to an Instagram worthy building for passer-byers but neglects to address the needs of the immediately effected population in and around the building. When an architect makes the transition from trying to figure out how to design a project to figuring out why they are designing it, they begin to consider who they are working for and the needs of all the occupants.
“The more complex the problem, the simpler the solution.” -Alejandro Aravanda
The public housing project described by Aravanda in his TED talk was a great example of how an architect can include the future occupants in the design process. When he decided to design and build only the essential half of the home, he was giving the residents the opportunity to expand in their own, unique way. This concept of design gives an incredible amount of freedom to the residents and allows them to express themselves and their individual needs through the customized half of the house. This notion of allowing a non-architecture background person to complete your project would never be accepted in a situation where the end goal is Instagram architecture and starchitect status. But this way of designing has the right priority at its core, the people who will be in the building.
As we finish up our master’s degree in architecture and start our careers as young architects this semester, how can we remember the “why?” I think that we have done a lot of background research in every studio but very rarely have we engaged with the community. When we move into the real world of design, we have to encourage our employers to bring the community into the design process in order to keep the important principles at the core of the project. It can be as easy as circulating surveys or as complex as gathering community groups to be a part of schematic design and development of project goals. Either way, the community of people we are designing for should be at the top of the design considerations list and the only way to understand them is to communicate with them.
Dan, I think you're totally right that communicating with the people we are designing for should always be made a priority when designing. I think what is also equally important, as you start to mention, is how we communicate with them. I had an experience at my internship this past fall where we had a community meeting to discuss a design for a new K-8 school we were working on. The meeting was through Zoom and it consisted of a rehearsed presentation by the architects, and then multiple choice questions presented with a timer for the viewers to answer. All of the participants were muted and the chat feature was turned off. I honestly felt like we were curating the outcome and were afraid to hear honest opinions. In this new digital environment, we have to find ways to truly involve the community and let their voices be heard, no matter how attached we are to our own designs.
ReplyDeleteDan, I enjoyed your article. I was interested in this TED Talk as well. I find the idea of letting others design where they live to be a way to motivate the user. In the studies they went through, people expressed how they did not want to live in apartment buildings due to the lack of ability to expand their realm of domain. This brings up a question of are apartments meant for young people who are living temporarily in an area but expandable living is for more family units.
ReplyDeleteThis brings up some great points about engaging community in not only the schematic and preliminary phases of design but continuing to engage the user through to the end of a build like you were mentioning about Aravena's project. This concept is ultimately and unfortunately often times overlooked in larger scale projects where the architect-client relationship is not as intertwined. But I agree we as emerging architects should push for that continued community/client engagement in our designs for them to be successful and appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea of the "why" versus the "how" in regards to design. It reminds me of a TED talk I listened to a couple months back about the "what", the "how" and the "why". One of the major takeaways I got from it was that "people don't care what you do, they care why you do it". If you don't have a reason for doing what you're doing, then how can you expect anyone to get behind it? It's easy to answer the question "how was that structure built?", but I think many would agree that, on average, it is much more difficult to answer the question "why was that structure built?" Particularly in regards to housing.
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