When is too much participatory design?

Participatory Design is an extremely important concept and clients need to be carefully listened to so we produce the best piece of work we can to help them out in as many ways possible. For them our creation is their prized possession, they shelter from the elements, a place of learning and recreation, a roof you spend every night under. There is no disagreements that participatory design is needed and underlooked in many architectural practices. 

Depending on the field of work an architectural student may go into, it will impact how large of a community they will be designing for. Whether that be residential work doing single family homes or doing civic and commercial work such as large stadiums or shopping centers to hold thousands and thousands of occupants. Taking up acres of spaces within communities and cities. In many instances where you have multiple clients or a board/community of clients it's extra important to listen and take their thoughts, opinions, culture, and lifestyles into consideration. On larger scale projects it's extremely important you think of the community as a whole rather than a singular client. Many times an architect will have a community board to review their work. Sometimes there is a vote and a community behind the final decision on if your design is built or not. I worked on a project last summer the community actually had a cohesive vote on the project and if it were to get built or not. 

This is an extremely complex and difficult thing to manage, especially when opinions differ and tensions arise.  In larger community architectural decisions becomes very political in many instances (some don't like building height, specific setbacks, specific colors, specific materials, etc) While it is extremely important to try and make the best out of every opinion in a community, one can never make everyone happy all the time. When meetings are consistent and members of the community stop inviting those who disagree, politics quickly comes to the table. There seems to be so many instances where there are that 'grumpy couple members' on the board against a strong design while everyone else gives glowing approval. This process then becomes delayed due to an never satisfied board member. We know almost every architect has been there. 

In the opposite instance, you'll find a single family residential firm were a family can misread drawings, renderings, images, paintings, videos, etc. This can cause for a lack of trust behind the design process even if you 'can and will' deliver a design in which the client is more than happy. If too much involvement with a client occurs things can become stagnant and some clients may never make final decisions. There are so many risks with some clients being too heavily involved. One must become good at guiding clients and communities and making decisions for everyone when people agree and disagree. A tough, diverse task to learn. Otherwise things don't get built.