A Focus on Pedagogy

Abstract

The study tends to stimulate discourse on Participation as a design ideology. It is important to inquire the process of participation in our region taking into view all the factors involved in building processes – commissions and execution. Studio and practice are not two sides of a coin. As an essential component of studio pedagogy, community participation can easily be incorporated into the design brief in order to focus on enquiry-led-design in order to challenge the traditional teaching norms. Knowing that the place is always a condition in design, outcomes should be Honest to the place. How can anyone talk about concepts like community, co-design, place-making without reflecting it in pedagogical hypothesis? An architecture students’ drawings must represent honesty. Has anyone seen a university lecture room with furniture layouts similar to the drawings of campus as presented by the architect in his designs? Architects are living a lie. This is why vernacular buildings contradict with ‘individual style’. Our region, Waseb (a native name used for South Punjab) is very rich, our economy is unique, and our city (being one of the oldest city in the region) works differently. We don’t want to alienate architecture from its native soil, its culture, its people, its crafts, its folklore, public history. With a focus on participation in design studio pedagogy, a few of our thesis projects will be discussed that revolve around the ideologies of inclusion provided there are limitations in finding/gathering statistical data of stakeholders involved and/or targeted. Also, there are time limits to architectural projects which tend to restrict the scope of community participation. A few experimental initiatives taken up by the faculty will also be analyzed to demonstrate the potentials and utilization of shared spaces through participatory processes in our region. The scope can then be extended to the urban scales.