Archinect - Features

Understanding the End User: How One Woman Took It To The Extreme

2019-07-14T08:00:00-04:00

Architects, by and large, are tasked with a tremendous undertaking: to design a world for the masses. The ultimate driving factor of any project is people – to serve them, entertain them, and accommodate them. Shelter is one of our most essential needs as humans and so the architect must, by the nature of her work, understand the human, she must know her user. Architecture is the manifestation of what we believe we understand about the human condition. With such an essential factor of the creative process relying on one’s relation and empathy to people, it is sensible to investigate how that empathic process might unfold. What follows is a powerful example of a young pioneer who took extraordinary steps to literally transform herself into her user. As an industrial designer, she propelled herself into an experiment that would position her as one of the world’s foremost models of empathic brilliance, setting the stage for a new generation of creators and designers.

Dwelling in the Golden Years: Experiments in Senior Living

2017-12-08T12:21:00-05:00

Global populations are aging—according to the UN, by 2030 the number of citizens aged 60 years or over is projected to grow by 56%, a figure which by 2050 is expected to double again, to a total of 2.1 billion seniors worldwide, skewed towards 'greying economies' such as those of the US and Europe. Where and how will our seniors live in the future? This month I speak to architect and KADK professor Deane Simpson, who researches shifts in the built environment which are occurring as a consequence of population aging, and Stephen Bates of award-winning firm Sergison Bates who recently completed the Housing for Older Residents project in Hampstead, London. Is it possible to move beyond stereotypes to create an architecture which is functional, healthy and beneficial for the older generation?

Branner Fellowship Summary: Aging Modernism

2011-02-09T13:00:20-05:00

The John K. Branner Traveling Fellowship, awarded each year to three masters of architecture students in their final year at the University of California, Berkeley, gives recipients the opportunity to travel the world for twelve months in pursuit of architectural inquiries that will later inform their theses. This fellowship represents one of the most extensive pre-thesis travel research grants awarded to master level students in the United States. The 2010 Branner Fellows, Adriana Navarro-Sertich, Eleanor Pries, and Melissa Smith have just returned from their travel and are in the midst of thesis production.