Workshop: Participatory Architecture
A teaching program is proposed designed to introduce participants to a different way of approaching architectural projects and the sociocultural environments in which they can be developed.
Program and objectives
One of the most widespread working schemes nowadays, competitions, invite the development of an architectural programme based on closed bases, the authorship and focus of which are usually unknown. In many cases, the communities receiving these projects have not been an active part in their writing.
In this way, the work of architects is limited to developing a program, to designing an aesthetically attractive solution, in distant and unknown environments and without the critical analysis of the urban and sociocultural scenarios that have led to structuring the foundations themselves. Meanwhile, the role of communities is reduced to that of mere spectators of the unfolding of an urban spectacle, in which they are not invited to intervene.
While it is important for students to become familiar with this type of framework, it is also interesting to present young professionals, who are soon entering the professional world, with another type of approach to architecture, on which they could build their own personal career path.
The Ctrl+Z participatory architecture workshop proposes to identify, include and use the energies already present and operative in a territory, to dialogue with them and to value them for the generation of an architectural proposal that is personal and unique to each participant, who will define during the process the guiding values, the place and the agents involved in their approach.
The aim is to stimulate the curiosity of students and invite them to reflect and analyse, as planners, their surroundings and the possibility of proposing urban interventions in the spaces that surround them. Students are offered the opportunity to work on enclaves that have always attracted their attention, establishing themselves, based on their critical analysis and personal vision of the city, the needs and limits of their proposal, considering the dynamics that are present or could be activated in a given territory.
Each proposal is accompanied by research, either hinted at or imagined, into the materials that could be used, the agents and social forces to be involved, as well as possible financing and management schemes.
The aim is to stimulate the curiosity of students and invite them to reflect and analyse, as planners, their surroundings and the possibility of proposing urban interventions in the spaces that surround them. Students are offered the opportunity to work on enclaves that have always attracted their attention, establishing themselves, based on their critical analysis and personal vision of the city, the needs and limits of their proposal, considering the dynamics that are present or could be activated in a given territory.
Each proposal is accompanied by research, either hinted at or imagined, into the materials that could be used, the agents and social forces to be involved, as well as possible financing and management schemes.
Areas of intervention
The intervention framework is adapted to the specificities of each situation, it can focus on specific enclaves of the city or leave total freedom to work on it.
Previous workshops have covered topics such as:
- Conversion of residual or unused spaces
- Permanent or temporary interventions in public spaces
- Ephemeral architectures
- Community spaces and facilities
In general, participatory architecture and bottom-up architectural processes related to social processes.
Throughout the course, each student works by progressively reducing the scale, starting from an urban vision until reaching the definition of a specific functional program and the project of the minimum installations or actions for its implementation.
These projects are set in an urban environment in which different agents move and act, and various layers and sociocultural scenarios overlap, giving meaning to each of the proposals. In short, the teaching program aims to provide students with the necessary tools and encourage them to think about the city without a predetermined architectural program, to focus on the most immediate environments, of which they have direct knowledge, and to consider, as young professionals, their own vision of the city and how they could actively intervene and contribute to the urban discourses that develop in it.
These projects are set in an urban environment in which different agents move and act, and various layers and sociocultural scenarios overlap, giving meaning to each of the proposals. In short, the teaching program aims to provide students with the necessary tools and encourage them to think about the city without a predetermined architectural program, to focus on the most immediate environments, of which they have direct knowledge, and to consider, as young professionals, their own vision of the city and how they could actively intervene and contribute to the urban discourses that develop in it.
These ways of looking at the city and working on it are applied daily to the development of Ctrl+Z’s professional proposals, which allow students to be presented with real, current, proven project tools that are directly applicable to professional practice. These work schemes have sometimes incorporated workshops for the development of long-range projects: for example, in the case of laTren / elNodo, it is worth highlighting the “Ciudad X” workshop, in which the initial premises of the project were dreamt about and reflected upon, so that the workshops themselves can be conceived as part of real architectural processes.
Logistics
The program is ideally developed over 5+5 days of intensive workshop, although on more than one occasion the program has been developed over 5 days or extended to 15 days naturally. Each workshop is structured based on the requirements of the academic programs of the host institutions and other schedules can be considered and agreed upon with them.
Workshops have been held in South America, Central America and in different locations in Europe.
*David Moldando Roberto Garza's slides made during the workshop given at the «Isthmus Norte». Chihuahua, Mexico.
** Visit to the locations and presentation of the results to the neighbors during the workshop held at the "CEDIM", Monterrey, Mexico
