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| ONE LIFE, ONE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE ACCESSIBLE IN-BETWEEN |
DESIGN AS RESEARCH
After three weeks of joy and one of creative effort I think is time to get back to thesis work. I
used the break to meditate about the changes and clarifications my work needed. I can
honestly say, I am pretty happy with the fall semester outcome, but I want to push my thesis
further. I consider it has a potential that needs to be developed and bound.
My original plan was to work with the neighborhood current and historic analysis and to
create a diagrammatic model with my findings during the break. When I was going to start with
these tasks I realized that in order to institute the contextualization elements of my thesis I had
to create a medium to document and express what the thesis represents. Since I like web
design and I know how fast information moves in the Internet, I decided to create a website.
ArquiTalks.com is a comprehensive website with the purpose of uniting all the areas of my
investigation. My contextualization includes three main elements (1) community development
power by residents; (2) positive benefits of intergenerational communities, and; (3) support
systems for accessible housing. In other words, all these concepts have to be achieved in
order to adequately house the elders.
The website will allow me, as a Norvella Heights resident, to start a community redevelopment
effort. In which I will investigate the importance of my involvement in the process. The benefits
of the intergenerational communities will be represented by the various people accessing the
website and providing their feedback. I have to say that personal interaction can never be
replaced by cyber chatting, but a metaphor between the two can be established. That is why
the areas in which the personal interactions occur need to be accessible to all ages. In the past
many have created a diversity of options for accessible housing, but it is time to integrate those
units to the rest of the community development.
After I was able to combine those elements and provide the information about my work, I was
ready to move on. Now, I am concentrating in revising my plan of action for the next 4-5 weeks.
I previously proposed a structure, but I think it needs to be more focused and tied more to
conventional architectural elements. During the past week, I have been revising the scale of my
work and therefore, the schedule.
As I mentioned before, I substituted the current/historic investigation with the website
creation. Now, I am back on track. For the first week I am going to look to the neighborhood
“as is”, including the investigations I have skipped. Then, out-of-track again because I was
analyzing the specifics of my work and I concluded that I needed to reverse my scale. I used
the diagram showed here to create a sense of relation between the scales I am using. First, I
was going from the macro element –activities and services- to the micro element –housing unit-.
But during a class discussion I realized the need for my work to move to the edge of community
design and relate to architectural design. That was when, I decided, to start with the housing
unit.
In that way I can investigate the relationship between the access to the unit and the
neighborhood to develop. Previously, I had trouble deciding if I needed to work with the
creation of accessible housing or accessible neighborhoods. Inadvertently, I added an
important element to my thesis name “Accessible In-Between”. Now I know the accessible in-
between is the relationship between the unit and the neighborhood; the area that allows the
residents to move independently from one area to another. I am not saying I am going to work
only with entrances, on the contrary, I am going to be working with access; the access from the
unit to all the parts of the neighborhood.
For midterms, I hope to accomplish a profound design research of the neighborhood “as is”;
the housing unit location, massing and entry; the lot setbacks and composition, and the
streetscape heights, open spaces and relationships. I consider those topics as the core
elements of access in relationship with the architectural unit. After midterms, I will be exploring
the use of community design in public areas in Prague, Czech Republic (bonus addition). And
finally, I will continue the journey with the investigation of streets its landscapes, pedestrian and
vehicular traffic, sidewalks, curbs, roads and parking neighborhood usages as civic, residential
and commercial, and activities and services that create connections between the neighborhood
and the surrounding areas.
My finalization process will start with the integration of all the finding of previous areas into
one diagrammatic neighborhood model. It will serve as an accessibility model for community
redevelopments and new construction. My goal is to create a pattern or guidelines that can be
use by community residents to power changes in their communities. They will benefit from their
effort and at the same time will create intergenerational communities across their areas.
Now the big questions, how I plan to do all this? And, how I am going to measure my findings?
Really easy, I say it is right and that is the end of it. Seriously, I will be using the Design as
Research method. Others have described the process as
“Design experimentation reflects a range of practices and methodologies that are drawn from a
variety of disciplines. However, the broad array of methods, claims, theoretical stances, and
intellectual traditions makes it extremely difficult to articulate exactly what design
experimentation is and how it can advance as a coherent field of study.” ~ The Design Based
Research Collective definition funded by the Spencer Foundation9
In my case, I see Design as Research from the context of my thesis work. I can say it is “the
process in which I will collect all the background information I need before I start my
investigation. The design is the tool which I will use to experiment (proof and error). The
combination of them creates a systematic analysis that can be measure by the standards I
created”.
My design process will start taking pictures that reflect the areas of my investigation. Then, I
will create street section for those areas in order to create a sense of scale and place and at
the same time investigate its possibilities. All the information collected will be used to create a
model –using different medias- that reflect the more effective way to deal with the accessibility
issues of the area.
In order to measure my findings, I developed three elements that have to be present in order
for the area of investigation to be successful. All the areas have to be or provide for
independence, active life and accessibility. I defined them as follow: (1) independence – allows
for its use without the need of constant help (2) active life – encourage activities outside the
housing unit, and (3) accessible – any person will be able to use it, regardless of age or
disability.
I developed this process to be specific to my thesis work. I did not reference to any current
Design as Research method use currently. During my time as an architectural student I have
always looked at the work of Zahah Hadid for inspiration, but I cannot say I will be using her
methods to develop my thesis work. I will have her free lines and massive structures in mind
when I am working, but I can proudly say I am trying to develop a way of work that is based on
each project and not on my style.
used the break to meditate about the changes and clarifications my work needed. I can
honestly say, I am pretty happy with the fall semester outcome, but I want to push my thesis
further. I consider it has a potential that needs to be developed and bound.
My original plan was to work with the neighborhood current and historic analysis and to
create a diagrammatic model with my findings during the break. When I was going to start with
these tasks I realized that in order to institute the contextualization elements of my thesis I had
to create a medium to document and express what the thesis represents. Since I like web
design and I know how fast information moves in the Internet, I decided to create a website.
ArquiTalks.com is a comprehensive website with the purpose of uniting all the areas of my
investigation. My contextualization includes three main elements (1) community development
power by residents; (2) positive benefits of intergenerational communities, and; (3) support
systems for accessible housing. In other words, all these concepts have to be achieved in
order to adequately house the elders.
The website will allow me, as a Norvella Heights resident, to start a community redevelopment
effort. In which I will investigate the importance of my involvement in the process. The benefits
of the intergenerational communities will be represented by the various people accessing the
website and providing their feedback. I have to say that personal interaction can never be
replaced by cyber chatting, but a metaphor between the two can be established. That is why
the areas in which the personal interactions occur need to be accessible to all ages. In the past
many have created a diversity of options for accessible housing, but it is time to integrate those
units to the rest of the community development.
After I was able to combine those elements and provide the information about my work, I was
ready to move on. Now, I am concentrating in revising my plan of action for the next 4-5 weeks.
I previously proposed a structure, but I think it needs to be more focused and tied more to
conventional architectural elements. During the past week, I have been revising the scale of my
work and therefore, the schedule.
As I mentioned before, I substituted the current/historic investigation with the website
creation. Now, I am back on track. For the first week I am going to look to the neighborhood
“as is”, including the investigations I have skipped. Then, out-of-track again because I was
analyzing the specifics of my work and I concluded that I needed to reverse my scale. I used
the diagram showed here to create a sense of relation between the scales I am using. First, I
was going from the macro element –activities and services- to the micro element –housing unit-.
But during a class discussion I realized the need for my work to move to the edge of community
design and relate to architectural design. That was when, I decided, to start with the housing
unit.
In that way I can investigate the relationship between the access to the unit and the
neighborhood to develop. Previously, I had trouble deciding if I needed to work with the
creation of accessible housing or accessible neighborhoods. Inadvertently, I added an
important element to my thesis name “Accessible In-Between”. Now I know the accessible in-
between is the relationship between the unit and the neighborhood; the area that allows the
residents to move independently from one area to another. I am not saying I am going to work
only with entrances, on the contrary, I am going to be working with access; the access from the
unit to all the parts of the neighborhood.
For midterms, I hope to accomplish a profound design research of the neighborhood “as is”;
the housing unit location, massing and entry; the lot setbacks and composition, and the
streetscape heights, open spaces and relationships. I consider those topics as the core
elements of access in relationship with the architectural unit. After midterms, I will be exploring
the use of community design in public areas in Prague, Czech Republic (bonus addition). And
finally, I will continue the journey with the investigation of streets its landscapes, pedestrian and
vehicular traffic, sidewalks, curbs, roads and parking neighborhood usages as civic, residential
and commercial, and activities and services that create connections between the neighborhood
and the surrounding areas.
My finalization process will start with the integration of all the finding of previous areas into
one diagrammatic neighborhood model. It will serve as an accessibility model for community
redevelopments and new construction. My goal is to create a pattern or guidelines that can be
use by community residents to power changes in their communities. They will benefit from their
effort and at the same time will create intergenerational communities across their areas.
Now the big questions, how I plan to do all this? And, how I am going to measure my findings?
Really easy, I say it is right and that is the end of it. Seriously, I will be using the Design as
Research method. Others have described the process as
“Design experimentation reflects a range of practices and methodologies that are drawn from a
variety of disciplines. However, the broad array of methods, claims, theoretical stances, and
intellectual traditions makes it extremely difficult to articulate exactly what design
experimentation is and how it can advance as a coherent field of study.” ~ The Design Based
Research Collective definition funded by the Spencer Foundation9
In my case, I see Design as Research from the context of my thesis work. I can say it is “the
process in which I will collect all the background information I need before I start my
investigation. The design is the tool which I will use to experiment (proof and error). The
combination of them creates a systematic analysis that can be measure by the standards I
created”.
My design process will start taking pictures that reflect the areas of my investigation. Then, I
will create street section for those areas in order to create a sense of scale and place and at
the same time investigate its possibilities. All the information collected will be used to create a
model –using different medias- that reflect the more effective way to deal with the accessibility
issues of the area.
In order to measure my findings, I developed three elements that have to be present in order
for the area of investigation to be successful. All the areas have to be or provide for
independence, active life and accessibility. I defined them as follow: (1) independence – allows
for its use without the need of constant help (2) active life – encourage activities outside the
housing unit, and (3) accessible – any person will be able to use it, regardless of age or
disability.
I developed this process to be specific to my thesis work. I did not reference to any current
Design as Research method use currently. During my time as an architectural student I have
always looked at the work of Zahah Hadid for inspiration, but I cannot say I will be using her
methods to develop my thesis work. I will have her free lines and massive structures in mind
when I am working, but I can proudly say I am trying to develop a way of work that is based on
each project and not on my style.