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Community engagement reflection essay
Importance of community engagement
Importance of community engagement
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Chen Cherng Yu
Community Engagement P30026 - Design Literature Review Date of Submission - 8 November 2013

“do you sell ice cream?”
“no. we sell architecture design, community development and consultation, interactive workshops and service design.”
The ideas and practices of community-led design has been around and practiced for a long time, especially so within the field of architecture, urban design and master planning (Alexiou et al., 2013). Ralph Erskine, one of the pioneers in community-led design, has shown in his Byker Wall project in Newcastle how successful a project can be by involving the community (Blundell Jones and Canniffe, 2007). Despite the growing demand of this approach in the built environment (Wares, 2000), the practice of community-led design has been underutilized and sidelined as there remains poor recognition and understanding of its approaches and benefits (Alexiou et al., 2013). But why is that? Why do practitioners remain ambiguous towards users participation during design process?
This literature review sets out to observe a practice that advocates and exercises participatory methods in their design practice. It will provide an insight into the general approach of the particular practice as well as the particular research methodologies practiced in their key projects. Through that, the literature review aims to distinguish the general potentials and limitations of the research methodology in assisting design process and its relevance to the contemporary architectural practice scene.
Winston Churchill once said “We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us” (Churchill, 1944). While buildings often reflect the qualities of the people who design and construct them, its architectural design surel...
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...ing process, it is nevertheless a good start for the young firm. The practice shows that with the right type of participatory method at the right time at the right place, community participation can be manageable and effective (Sanoff, 2000). The result will then be design of buildings and other products that are reflective of the concerns and aspirations of the end users (Sanoff, 2006). In conclusion, community participation is all about working with communities on an equal basis (Wares, 2000). While the unique approaches of this young practice are surely commendable, perhaps what is truly inspiring about Icecream Architecture is their unique mentality of and bold approach towards architecture. Less constrained by formalistic theories and traditional conventions of architecture as profession, Icecream Architecture seems to be more concerned with people and process.
He suggests that the use of “electronic imaging prevents imagining and promotes thinking about architecture rather than bring architects, contractors, clients and critics to think within architecture” (275). Inspired by Frascari, the strategy of technography is encouraged (278). This is a “different way of thinking about the relationship between a [working] drawing and a future building. Rather than “simply Cartesian, technical lines showing edges, corners and joints these technographic drawings reveal both the symbolic and instrumental representations of the future building.. it is to make visible what is invisible”. Ridgway remarks, “The fact that any of this could be considered contentious indicates that extent to which architects have become alienated from the heart of their profession” (279). He asserts, “Part of any technography must be an acknowledgement of the historical context of construction knowledge. This is not only so we can better understand our rich architectural ancestry, but because it re-establishes a connection with the origins of our profession in building” (279). Rather than a “miniature projected representation of an imagined building, details are drawn as poetic constructions themselves, following the logic of drawing and not building and representing the “built detail symbolically, in addition to instrumentally. The symbolic and practical are one and the same thing” (280). “What are the symbolic qualities we are trying to embody in our buildings and how would we represent them in drawings?” becomes the question (278). These drawing “may not be easy or straightforward to understand or interpret.
Crowdfunding for architecture would distribute the money, wealth and power which would lead to a democratic non-profit participatory design system as oppose to the traditional hierarchical profit based top-down real estate system. Crowdfunding is based on quality and innovation not on profit. A project needs to catch enough interest in order to be realized. This forces innovative architectural concepts.
Last year, MoMA held a special exhibition, Applied design, to show how design has branched out in new directions and attracting worldwide attention. In an exhibition’s description, they argued that “Like physics, design will be loosely divided into the theoretical and the applied. Theoretical de...
“LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is transforming the way we think about how our buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and o...
Sorkin, Michael., Mildred S. Friedman, Frank O. Gehry, Frank O.Gehry Associates. Gehry Talks: architecture + Process. New York: Universe Publishing: Distributed to the U.S trade by St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
For instance, highly populous and famous cities such as Oslo, New York, Alexandria, and San Francisco hold some of the important architecture projects that have shaped individuals’ lives. Reporter David Owen, in his New Yorker article “Psychology of Space”, argues how the architecture firm Snøhetta utilizes their magic through their projects to build people’s moods, shape their relationships with cities, buildings and other individuals, and create illusions with exhilarating effects. The author’s argument is rhetorically compelling because his arrangement of ideas, selection of words, and supporting evidence maintain his public engaged in the magic of architecture and persuade anyone reading his article that architecture plays a critical role in their lives in numerous
In order to create innovative public architecture, considered to be the most civic, costly, time intensive and physical of the arts, the project holds a degree of risk, strife, and negotiation . Overcoming these tasks and creating worthy public architecture is a challenge designers try to accomplish, but are rarely successful. The people involved in a potential public building, can be larger than the building itself. Public architecture tries to please all, even the doubters and critics, but because of the all these factors, a building is closer to failing than succeeding.
It is amazing how architecture has blossomed. As technology has grown and people have gained knowledge in the wide array of architecture many different forms have developed.
Design has established itself as core elements in societies helping countless communities build infrastructure, invent new ways to better living conditions and create design desirable for consumption hence bettering the economy. Though this is a positive, most designers of the 21st century use their skills and their designs alike for those who can afford it; designing for what’s in fact the minority, 10% of the world’s population. The reason why developmental aid and design for development is essential to improving standards of living for those who live in developing countries, but to also bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Ilse Oosterlaken (2009, p.100) equates most designs for development that use a `participatory' process as having a limited, user-centred approach; and suggests instead a more universal design approach, which she calls ‘capability sensitive design’. This essay will illustrate designs that have contributed to developmental design through capability sensitive design approach, considering sustainable design that are not only better the environment, community health and social welfare but the country’s economic standing. Through evaluating each example’s potential for real, sufficient, diverse and lasting value for the targeted users we can determine each design’s efficiency.
Meijenfeldt, E. V., and Geluk, M. 2003. Below ground level: creating new spaces for contemporary architecture. Birkhauser
Being an architect is a very important thing, you have a large amount of responsibility. You control a large aspect of someone’s life whether it is where they walk in a shopping centre or where they sleep and eat, and that is why it is very important to design for yourself and your client. You have to imagine the space as if you were there, you need it to be
As Frank Lloyd Wright has said, “the mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.” Architecture matters beyond providing shelter, beyond fulfilling one needs and being functional. An architectural space is a significant tool which influences individuals’ behaviour mentally and spiritually through the experiences it provides. Architecture begins to shape one’s state of mind before the individual enters the space; however, entering the space evokes greater emotions, and observing the plan of an architectural space permits more understanding of the building.
Design has major impact with concerns to environmental qualities. This field is a direct study of the relationship between behaviouristic actions of its inhabitants. Designers constantly interact with people and communicate to solve the needs of their clients regardless of large or small scale projects. Analysis is key in combining creativity with managerial design solutions. These outside-of-the-box designers have the ability to create beautiful, safe and functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces using common factors, designing for communities as well as,
Community engagement is the active participation of local residents and community groups in the decisions that affect their lives (Herefordshire Council, 2013). Therefore, community engagement should be about engaging in open communication to ensure the council understands the needs of the local community.
Behind every architectural work there is an architect, whether the architect is one man or woman, a small group, or an entire people. The structure created by any of these architects conveys a message about the architect: their culture, their identity, their struggles. Because of the human element architects offer to their work not just a building is made, but a work of art, a symbol of a people, a representation, is also created.