Author(s): Jeffrey Zhenhua Liu
In response to the 1968 student protests across Europe, Giancarlo De Carlo called for a radical restructuring of archi-tectural pedagogy and practice. Recognizing architecture’s complicity in enacting the will of the powerful and wealthy, who possessed the resources to fund large-scale building proj¬ects, De Carlo proposed a paradigm of participation in which architecture would be designed collectively by its users. This model of participation necessitated not only an inclusive, user-driven process of architectural design, but also a hori¬zontal structure of academic knowledge dissemination in which intellectual exchange between teachers and students take place on an equalized platform. The Common Games seminar was a combination history/ theory and design course that educated students in theories of participatory architectural design before practicing these theories within a collaborative project. Students in each course collectively produced a board game as a medium for participatory design addressing a chosen spatial challenge. Simplifying the parameters of physical space, resources, legal codes, and other technical requirements into accessible gameplay mechanics, board games invite individuals without professional expertise to cooperatively design spatial futures. The Common Game project not only served as a framework for user-inclusive architectural practice, but also immersed students within a non-hierarchical structure of design dele¬gation and intellectual negotiation. Ultimately, the board game was a pedagogical instrument intended to both train non-professional players in spatial design and teach students participatory design through its practice. As systemic spatial injustice cannot be addressed without true structural change and collective effort, architecture must be reconceptualized as a practice of participatory space-making that empowers marginalized communities to reconfigure the spatial politics of their environments. Using gameplay as a design framework, participation promises an expanded role of the architect that leverages architectural expertise to create political and social transformation.
Volume Editors
ISBN
978-1-944214-49-4