Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures
Abstract
This paper explores the interdisciplinary relationship between comics and architecture. Set within the practice of ongoing research between comics scholar and graphic novelist Andrea Hoff and architectural researcher Inge Roecker, this paper explores the transfer of knowledge between fields through the collaborative creation of sequential visual narratives. AIR studio, Roecker’s research-intensive architecture firm, recently re-focused its design strategy on inclusion and community engagement in housing design. Seeking to address a lack of accessible collaborative community practices, AIR studio reached out to Hoff as an arts-based researcher and comics creator. The questions central to this partnership are 1) How can comics explore inclusive design strategies in new and more accessible ways? And 2) How can we increase participation in inclusive design strategies through the visual storytelling of comics? The resulting research between artist/writer and architect is based on the premise that comics may offer architecture a way to explore lived experiences in new ways and to share that information with a wider audience, revealing unexplored visual narrative methodologies within architecture’s cannon of visual forms. What’s more, approaching inclusive design strategies through the intrinsically posthuman narrative form of comics may open other ways of envisioning future housing design and better incorporate methodologies that engage communities as participants. The anticipated outputs of the project are two-fold: firstly, to create a comic book that visualizes current challenges in inclusive design practices in the built environment, and secondly, to create a resulting set of visual cards that can be used as prompts, initiating new dialogues in inclusive practices, available to wider audiences. The aim of the research is to offer future residents, communities, and design professionals new avenues for centring inclusion and collaboration in housing design.
Andrea/ Andy Hoff (she/her) is an interdisciplinary media artist and writer. She is also a Ph.D. Candidate in Language & Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia where she co-creates comics about the future with young people as a way to access agency in the Climate Crisis. Her comics and nonfiction writing have appeared in Broken Pencil, The Tyee, Room Magazine, and Display Canadian Design as well as in exhibitions in Canada, Australia, Germany, and Iceland. Her films and animations have been screened at the Berlinale Talent Campus, FIFA World Cup, and the NYU Film Festival.
As the founder of AIR studio, Inge’s work is focused on multi-unit housing, sustainable practices, and architecture’s relationship to social and cultural issues such as aging populations and inclusive design. Her practice embodies an independent form of modernism while addressing the everyday experiences of people and communities through housing. She is committed to sustainable building practices and is a trained Passive House professional. Inge is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of British Columbia where she specializes in community-focused studios.