Architecture As Agent for Change: Public Interest Design in the Architecture Studio

Erika Zekos (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

It was over 20 years ago that Ernest Boyer and Lee Mitgang outlined a new future for architectural education. Their report described a need for meaningful connections to both practice and community within the curriculum. In fact, many architecture programs have shifted to meet this demand, but meaningful community-engaged learning remains a challenging undertaking, even as the economic, social, and environmental issues facing our communities have continued to expand. Architecture can be an agent for positive change and the studio is an ideal place to establish a commitment to social responsibility within the discipline. This paper examines best practices for meaningful engagement through service-learning and how architecture students can use design-as-advocacy to address the challenges faced by our communities. It also discusses strategies for overcoming barriers to mutually successful studio--community partnerships, including approaches to planning and communication, limited time and finances. A senior-level undergraduate architecture design studio focused on public interest design is shared as an example of these ideas in practice.

The studio curriculum links the professional and theoretical foundations of community-focused, participatory architectural practice. Students take a deep dive into the history of public interest design methodologies and practices, as well as the historical, social/political, cultural, and environmental contexts of the community they will serve. This academic research paves the way for a design project with a community-based client/ partner. The hands-on work to learn about the partner’s mission, build trust, identify needs, and co-create in response to that need, is the semester’s culminating effort. Through this process students learn to challenge theirown beliefs by working with client/partners whose backgrounds and values may differ from their own. They understand that service learning is mutually beneficial when all have a voice, and they are prepared to use these practices in their own work beyond the studio.