Designing with Communities. Pedagogical Framework for Resilient Architectural Education

Abstract

In an era overwhelmed by a culture driven towards standardisation and efficiency, DIY stands out as a cultural and political reaction. It is not only a construction method but also a social and educational device that places not only space, material, and time at the centre but also the human body and the community.

This essay explores the pedagogical and territorial value of self-construction as a shared design practice between architecture schools, students and inhabitants. This approach could generate new forms of local resilience and collective awareness. Several references around the world use self-building as a pedagogical way of teaching and conceptualising architecture. Examples include Rural Studio (USA) and Chaal.Chaal.Agency (India), ConstructLab (Europe), BASEHabitat (Austria), and many others, ..., although with different languages, treat the model of research by design and design-driven approach. The link with the university spheres allows them to define a methodology applicable both at the pedagogical and research levels. Furthermore, these ‘associations’ employ a multidisciplinary team: architects, builders, sociologists, graphic designers, educators...This shared vision of interdisciplinary, collaborative working combines creativity and practice by doing.

The present proposal aims to reflect on some DIY experi- ences activated in the AUIC School of the Politecnico
di Milano courses with international students. The contexts were fragile areas (urban outskirts, remote mountainous zones, etc.). These experiences are not only defined as ‘technical building sites’ – where learning how to build by ‘recovering’ from ‘waste’ – but also as ‘social projects’ – where working with different ethnic and generational groups.

These workshops demonstrate how acting together – with the crafts, in the long process of listening and trans- formation – brings meaning back to the project and creates caring links between students, territories and the local community to investigate co-design scenarios for experimentation and visions. The DIY workshop is conceived as a civic and pedagogical activator, producing light and symbolic infrastructures and tools for holistic education.

Freear, Andrew, and Andrea Oppenheimer Dean. Rural Studio: Samuel Mock- bee and an Architecture of Decency. Princeton Architectural Press, 2002. Stavrides, Stavros. Common Space: The City as Commons. Zed Books, 2016.