Going beyond the limits of the traditional approach, Responsible Architecture’s projects should be able to change people’s perception of value and their expectation of what they can do towards building and designing in a sustainable way.
PhD project by Ricelli Laplace Resende
Responsible Architecture (RA) as a term was proposed by the European Union of Architects in 2001 but is yet not explored deeply in research and practice. This PhD is a theoretical and practical exploration of what it means to practice Responsible Architecture and in which values is it based. This study emerges from two central understandings: First, that the ecological and social issues are entangled, and therefore should be addressed together in architectural projects. Secondly, that architecture highly impacts sustainable human behaviour; consequently, the understanding of environmental psychology and human behaviour should be part of the architect’s competency.
This study uses environmental psychology to address human behaviour from the premise that behaviour is impacted by our values and attitudes, which are central parts of the belief system that compose our world view. Based on this understanding, RA’s worldview explores a design process that is focused on five central values:
Architecture for equality, based on ethics of care. Architecture for togetherness, based in co-creation, building trust and deep listening. Architecture for shared values, based in building community and a common goal. Tangible architecture, which fights alienation, is easy to understand and practice, affordable and for all. And lasting architecture, based on long term effects of projects on society and the environment.
In this PhD, these principles are explored in a case study in a participatory self-build community project, between local communities from Institut for (X) and architectural students. To promote these principles, the architect plays a central role as a mediator (between people and different types of knowledge) and as an activist (based on educational praxis, bringing academia closer to local issues).
RA uses methods for sharing all participants’ values as a starting point of the design process. This is done in a series of participatory design workshops, where students and stakeholders are encouraged to reflect on their core values in relationship with ecological and social issues related to the project. The aim is to bring awareness of values and behaviours and promote more sustainable behaviour that can address local environmental and social issues through architecture.
Besides workshops, this PhD collects a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with architects, anthropologists, psychologists and more. This can be accessed in the Engaging Through Architecture Podcast. Click here to see more information on the community page.
If Responsible Architecture can impact people’s perception of value and behaviour, it can promote a new design approach that reflects the state and values of the society we want to create for our sustainable future.
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