Rebecca Medeiros_Assignment4b

Revised Questions

How can a framework of design be created so that the process as well as the outcome will exhibit the focus of incorporating the cultural and social aspects that create a society?

Can a viable community design approach that incorporates the participation of the specific user produce a methodology of architecture where the process as well as the outcome reflects and integrates the vibrancy and culture of a society?

Thesis

As designers of the built environment, architects have a responsibility to observe, listen, and respond to the needs of individuals within a society, culture, or region. The architect needs to be mindful to the history, traditions, and existing cultural fabric of the site and its characteristics that make it unique. With its contemporary obsession of signature buildings, architecture has drifted away from the focus of the needs of the user as well as incorporating the actual user into the design process. Therefore, this thesis seeks to create a methodology that can assist in refocusing design back to the user, the people, and the community. A strong communication and participation with the lives of everyday people is necessary in creating not only a design approach to architecture, but also to produce a tangible, successful outcome in a way that will accentuate the existing culture, place, and people.

Resources

Kernohan, David. 1992. User participation in building design and management :A generic approach to building evaluation. Oxford, OX ;Boston: Butterworth Architecture.

King, Stanley Conley, Merinda, Â , B. Latimer, Â , and Drew Ferrari. 1989. Co-design :A process of design participation. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Sanoff, Henry, Stanley Conley King Merinda, Â , B. Latimer, Â , and Drew Ferrari. 2000; 1989. Community participation methods in design and planning; co-design :A process of design participation. New York; New York: Wiley; Van Nostrand Reinhold.