Context is Critical (Neighborhood) 

It is pivotal to the success of a design for architects to keep the context of the site as the most important factor. When an architect designs a space, they often get too tangled up in non-vital components. Aspects that are contextual are such things as the history of the site, cultural components, and users of the space. This helps to create equitable, enjoyable, and engaging spaces. 

Example: In Kamaishi, Japan, ArchiAid stepped in to help rebuild after the Great East Japan Earthquake. They designed specifically for what communities wanted and needed and responded to the area’s context by designing smaller buildings that were more similar to former houses.

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Awareness and Acknowledgement  

When designing a space, as well as when critiquing one, being aware and acknowledging personal implicit bias that you may have is one of the first things architects should be doing. Educating yourself, exposing yourself to societal issues, and then acknowledging how you play a part in those are some of the most important components of building architecture, which responds to context and spaces that can inspire change. (based on “Radically Public Architecture”)

Example: The disability movement and the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 were pivotal moments in architectural discourse. Architects would now have to become more aware of accessibility and implement it into designs. When ADA design first took shape, architects would find easy solutions, such as having people go to the back loading dock to enter instead of providing them actual solutions. An excellent example of a thoughtful solution is one where you, the architect, acknowledge his bias, as seen at the law courts at Robinson Square in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the ramp and the stairs are conjoined. 

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Institutional Power Structures and Shaping Design 

Here, architects must acknowledge the power structures that persist in our society and the bias that plays out within them; it shapes urban design landscapes and often leads to displaced communities and inequitable spaces that are more commonly designed for the affluent. Architects must remember that they play an essential societal role in creating equitable public spaces and must do this by acknowledging power structures and personal biases. (based on “The Right to the City: From Capital Surplus to Accumulation by Dispossession”)

Example: The Living Rooms at the Border project in the Latinx San Ysidro community of San Diego shows architects reshaping the “border wall mentality” and creating spaces that respond to community needs. 

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Personal Designs in Personal Spaces (Space)

A home should be a place that reflects a person’s identity. The modernist idea that domesticity shows no identity and personality and is universal does not appeal to people who go home to relax and feel at home.  (based on “‘Leaving Traces’: Anonymity in the Modernist House”)

Example: In the Ray and Charles Eames House, we can see the modern aspects incorporated into this warm, inviting space. It is modern but approachable, a space full of personality. 

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Consequences and Opportunities 

Always keep in mind the consequences of a design. Architecture can create powerful feelings in people. On the flip side, architects can also harm communities, so be aware that there are always consequences as well as opportunities in design to create impactful spaces.  ( Based on “‘I Mean to Be Critical, But….'”)

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, located in Berlin, Germany, is incredibly impactful and sends visitors into reflection and remembrance. “Wolfgang Thierse, the president of Germany’s parliament the Bundestag, described the piece as a place where people can grasp “what loneliness, powerlessness and despair mean'” (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, 2024, par. 28)

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Importance of Engaging With Users (Building)

It’s not enough to rely on a few individuals who may or may not represent the community well. The responsibility lies in going directly to the source; engaging with the community as best as possible is paramount to creating a well-informed space that delights the user. Architects must keep in mind here that they play a massive role in shaping individuals’ lives by the way they create space for those users and communities, and the only way to truly design for the user to go directly to the source and get equal representation versus just a few individuals who feel they are an adequate representation.  (Based on “Home Planning and Gender in Mandatory Palestine” and “An Alternative to Functionalist Universalism: Écochard, Candilis, and Atbat-Afrique”)

Counter Example: An example of architects not consulting users of the space is in the Frankfurt kitchen, otherwise known as the working kitchen. It is a tiny kitchen that includes new technology and a small footprint, so women would only have to take a few steps in any direction and have all the new technology at their fingertips. However, this design was not actually designed around what women wanted. It was designed so that women could better suit the needs of being efficient for their husbands and families. 

Counter Example:  Another example of not designing with community feedback is when, in Morocco in 1953, Georges Candilis, in collaboration with ATBAT-Anfrique, created a set of apartments with individual courtyards to incorporate elements of a traditional Muslim home. In reality, those courtyards were later turned into bedrooms or living spaces that better suited the needs of the individuals. If Candilis had consulted the users, then perhaps the courtyard space would have originally been a more usable, desired place.

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Architecture Contributes to City Identity 

How does the architecture of a city shape its identity, and what is the purpose of the design? Does it help to forge a new identity or reinforce the current one? 

Example: There was a pivotal architectural movement in Japan during the 1970s called the Metabolism movement. Japan was trying to recover from the atomic bombs that devastated the region, and architects—in efforts to reshape Japan’s identity—came up with a solution where the architecture would be dynamic, evolving, and adaptive to reflect how Japan was changed after the destruction. Metabolists saw architects as “social architects” who played a vital role in helping rebuild Japan metaphorically and physically. 

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Adaptive Architecture 

Architecture does not have to be this “totalizing, final, and highly scripted” discipline; rather, it can take an open-ended approach, where communities can alter and shift it as needed to better suit the needs of future generations.  (Based on “Radically public architecture…”)

The metabolism movement was in full effect in Japan during the 1970s. This architectural movement is all about adaptivity. The Nakagin Capsule Tower, designed by , Kisho Kurokawa, is an example of metabolistic design. The capsules can be removed and added as needed to better serve the building’s program. 

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Designing for Sensory

Designing to invoke emotion is a powerful tool. Design choices that affect senses, past visual, are often more powerful than ones that only involve visual senses. It’s especially important to incorporate sensory design into projects that are meant to leave individuals thinking. 

Example: At the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, visitors can touch 28-degree water and an actual iceberg, shovel coal, and perform other sensory activities. This is an important design aspect in the museum’s effectiveness in sharing the story of the Titanic.

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Revised Guidelines: 

1. Keeping context of the space at the forefront of design
2. Paying attention to how cultures if any at all have shaped the design
3. Being self aware of personal biases and how those affect our view of a building
4. Being aware of institutional biases and the problems that come with colonization
5. Criticism although positive has repercussions, for example that opinion can have great effect on others opinions of that same building, be aware of what you have heard from other people before analyzing 
6. How a building makes someone feel is one of the most important aspects of design, so keeping this in mind, think of how the design was carefully crafted around the function and the user
7. In order for this building to exist, think of how it got there? Was there a community there before, a different building, who owned the land, who are the people affected by this structure? Does it seem like the architect engaged with the community before designing?
8. Awareness, education, and acknowledgment are vital aspects of creating engaging, equitable spaces. Does it seem like the architect was well informed and self aware? (new)
9. How does this space contribute to the identity of the city/region? (new)
10. What consequences and/or opportunities does this space pose? (new)