Archinect - Features 2024-05-05T07:57:49-04:00 https://archinect.com/features/article/150207633/mit-m-arch-graduates-alexandre-beaudouin-mackay-sarah-wagner-inject-a-new-way-of-play-into-architectural-pedagogy MIT M.Arch Graduates Alexandre Beaudouin-Mackay & Sarah Wagner Inject "A New Way of Play" Into Architectural Pedagogy Katherine Guimapang 2020-07-20T12:34:00-04:00 >2020-07-20T12:34:54-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/b4/b489e8721ed6d5f0c17c335d7ba79a10.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>Graduates&nbsp;Alexandre Beaudouin-Mackay &amp; Sarah Wagner take architectural pedagogy in a direction driven by play. According to the duo, "by understanding play as a powerful methodology, architects can engage others in creative processes with the ambition of implementing new, meaningful, and imaginative design strategies. Play is not aimless but productive..."</p> <p>In their thesis project <em>A New Way of Play: The Forms and Functions of Participatory Design and Critical Pedagogies,&nbsp;</em>Beaudouin-Mackay and&nbsp;Wagner they push for architecture to reimagine play. As recent graduates from&nbsp;<a href="https://archinect.com/mitarchitecture" target="_blank">MIT's School of Architecture</a>, they created a set of play spaces for children in order to understand how different forms of architectural authorship could be challenged.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a href="https://archinect.com/features/tag/1582910/2020-thesis" target="_blank">Archinect's Spotlight on 2020 Thesis Projects</a></strong>:&nbsp;<em>2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for architecture graduates. Students were displaced as schools shut down, academic communities had to adapt to a new virtual format, end-of-year celebration...</em></p>