A community-centered approach to architectural design; what I learnt and experienced in the Ryerson Collaborative Exercise 2021
By: Eileen Xiao January 2021
Special thanks to Michelle Friesen for sharing her experience
Editor: Marveh Farhoodi
Ryerson Collaborative Exercise is an annual four-day, multi-year design event for the approximately 300 students at Ryerson’s Department of Architectural Science, a tradition that has been following, now more than a decade, in the beginning of the winter semester. This year was set up by stages of research, engagement, and storytelling, all grounded on human-centred design principles. The exercise sought to center the designers’, i.e., students’, minds around understanding the real experiences of residents of the local community-South Parkdale. As a new volunteer at Open Architecture Collaborative Canada (OACC), I recall first hearing the event from Marveh, the Program director of OACC who was looking for members who were familiar with the Parkdale context. Having done brief site and history research for two school projects in Parkdale during the second and third year, I was interested in learning more about the neighbourhood through a social and community lens. So over winter break, I was invested in learning the social gaps and robust resources available within the Parkdale community. From my research, what fascinated me the most was the resilience of the residents in facing gentrification and their support for those in need. I had a wonderful opportunity talking to Ko Hosoya, who has lived in Parkdale for 15 years and listened to her stories on engaging the locals to push for changes. With the help of Ko and other OACC members, I was able to frame one of the five design challenges based on real resident’s experiences. After helping on developing the exercise with the OACC and the Graduate Assistants (GA), I knew this year’s design process for Collaborative Exercise would be very different from the past.
On the first day of CEX21, many students were overwhelmed by the depth of research on Parkdale, so they stumbled over the framework of the challenges and jumped right into the design. In discussing the event, Michelle, who was one of the GAs shared similar insight, “I had to repeatedly ask the students who were the individuals [they were addressing to]. Sometimes there was a lack of research or misquote/mix up of some stories, and some groups had difficulties defining the specific wants/desires.” The reaction was not surprising, as many of us have not approached a project where there are no deliverables and programs are decided after understanding the residents’ needs. Michelle added, “this really challenged the students to think critically about what they learned from the community [‘s stories] and propose strategies to address direct needs.” Although there were some challenges at first, students gained new perspectives on who uses the space as they followed the steps of finding themes, correlated insights and HMW (How Might We) questions on the second day. The research process of the first two days allowed students to be creative with their storyboard and come up with personas that fit into their design narratives on the third day. I remembered everyone in my group was excited to write a story about their character, and we would have interesting discussions on how our design would relate to their daily routines.
After the exercise, Michelle shared, “Working on the Miro boards [interactive whiteboard system] was really helpful for the students to collaborate and organize their thoughts… [Overall] I think that this was an invaluable learning experience from the students — and from their provided feedback following the project, it seemed students were really appreciative to have a first-hand human-centred design guide their project. It made the projects feel purposeful and meaningful within the community.“ Similarly, I think the event is a success in revealing the social inequalities in the city and demonstrating how we, as future designers, could help alongside local residents. Now in our fourth-year studio, theory, and urban planning class, students are bringing up the things that they learned from this exercise during the class discussions. I think that is a step forward in building awareness of participatory design and opening a door for students to learn more about the social responsibilities of an architect or urban designer.
To check out the final outcomes of this exercise , check out CE 21 virtual Exhibition here: https://dasxhibitions.ca/
\
