Abstract
In the past two years, the Department of Architecture of the University of Moratuwa (UoM) in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of KU Leuven (Belgium) has organized international student workshops as part of the International Conference titled ‘Cities, People and Places’ (ICCPP workshops). These well-attended events offered bachelor and master level students of UoM and other universities in Sri Lanka and abroad an opportunity to experiment with a practice-based research approach towards architecture and urban design. This involved a conceptual and methodological framework that put the students who supplied base-line fieldwork material interchangeably in the roles of researchers, clients and designers. In addition, the exercise sharpened intercultural awareness and exchange as local and foreign students mingled in working on widely diverging case studies gathered in Sri Lanka and abroad. This paper outlines the conceptual framework of this initiative and the format developed in view of the workshop objectives. It then reviews how the first of these workshops was initiated, prepared, and conducted. Next, it critically assesses the envisaged outcomes in terms of concepts, methods, logistics and learning processes. Final reflections outline the lessons learnt in view of participants’ responses. It is proposed to further elaborate this experimental approach as part of the ICCPP events and possibly apply it to other similar initiatives. Cities People Places: International Journal on Urban Environments Vol.1(1) 2015: 32-46
Highlights
Cities have always been in constant flux
Wireless communication, digital media and a variety of open source social software are greatly contributing to this convergence: they have prompted the development of horizontal networks of interactive communication that connect local and global fields of action at any time
Trans-disciplinarity transcends disciplinary boundaries by encouraging inputs by lay-people who previously had never been taken seriously in research or professional practice. It implies a hybridization of knowledge and modes of inquiry offering “a critical and self-reflexive research approach that relates societal with scientific problems” (Jahn et al.,2012;8)
Summary
This workshop dealt with the transience of urban realities: it aimed to make students aware of time as a fourth dimension of place-making. Fieldworkers chose to conduct fieldwork on a Sunday, when most travelers on an odd day off come to Colombo for shopping, sport or leisure events, or for visiting friends, relatives and loved ones They identified five observation points in the immediate vicinity of the station and allocated each location to one group of fieldworkers. The groups’ design strategies concurred in converting the spaces on either side of the road into places of convergence (in front of the station) and dispersal (at the opposite side) To connect these two places, they proposed to create an underground pedestrian area that would provide shops and resting areas. Methodological guidelines for fieldworkers should emphasize the need to provide background information on the wider spatial setting of the fieldwork site as well on the variations of usages and users at other times than the detailed fieldwork observation. Workshop participants should receive a clear introduction to the envisaged dynamics and expected results
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