Design As a Social Act: Tales of Architectural Activism
Produced and Directed by Ayda Melika and Susanne Cowan
Produced and Directed by Ayda Melika and Susanne Cowan
This trilogy of films shows how the social upheavals of the 1960s led to the development of social approaches for designing the built environment. This documentary draws on ten oral history interviews with designers and researchers of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. (75 min)
Part 1: Social Factors (35 min)
Part 2: Community Design (19 min)
Part 3: Participatory Design (21 min)
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This project received funding for research travel and supplies
from the Joan E. Draper Architectural Research Endowment,
College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley.
Part 1: Social Factors (35 min)
This documentary explores how the perceived failure of modernist design and planning triggered the rise of social research in environmental design. Oral history interviews with Clare Cooper Marcus, Galen Cranz, Henry Sanoff, Sim Van der Ryn, and Robert Sommer illustrate the successes and the challenges faced in integrating social research into design education and practice.
Part 2: Community Design (19 min)
Based on oral history interviews with Mary Comerio, Henry Sanoff, and Robert Goodman this film examines how architecture schools integrated community outreach into studio work. Examining the evolution of Community Design Centers reveals the opportunities and challenges faced due to the transformations in design education and urban development funding.
Part 3: Participatory Design (21 min)
This documentary examines the way in which the civil rights movement inspired designers to embrace democratic urban planning. The oral histories with Randy Hester, Henry Sanoff, Robert Goodman, and Marcia McNally reveal the legacy of a generation of designers who rejected traditional design in favor of participatory design methods.
Film Screenings:
If you would like to have a screening at your school or non-profit, you may invite the directors Ayda Melika and Susanne Cowan to visit your organization, or you may buy copy of the film and hold your own screening. We allow non-profit and academic screenings that do not charge entrance fees as long as our names are credited in the promotions and the credits are rolled at the screening. We would love to know if you hold a public screening.
For profit screenings should contact Reform by Activism and Design to negotiate licensing fees.
Classroom Screenings and Lesson Plans
These three films have been edited specifically for classroom viewing. Their short length, 20 to 35 minutes, make them perfect for showing in a 1 hour lecture course as a trigger for conversation. The films give historical background on each topic, of social research, community design, and participatory design. However they also pose questions about what role these design techniques have in education and practice today. The films are a wonderful way to connect the history of the architectural practice with theoretical discussion of the current state of the field. We suggest showing only one film at a time at each classroom screening, as the three films were not intended to be shown all in succession at one time.
Photo from this page:
Cover, Design as a Social Act, Reform By Activism Design, 2014. Cover photo from Bill Brett/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
Past
This documentary explores how the perceived failure of modernist design and planning triggered the rise of social research in environmental design. Oral history interviews with Clare Cooper Marcus, Galen Cranz, Henry Sanoff, Sim Van der Ryn, and Robert Sommer illustrate the successes and the challenges faced in integrating social research into design education and practice.
Part 2: Community Design (19 min)
Based on oral history interviews with Mary Comerio, Henry Sanoff, and Robert Goodman this film examines how architecture schools integrated community outreach into studio work. Examining the evolution of Community Design Centers reveals the opportunities and challenges faced due to the transformations in design education and urban development funding.
Part 3: Participatory Design (21 min)
This documentary examines the way in which the civil rights movement inspired designers to embrace democratic urban planning. The oral histories with Randy Hester, Henry Sanoff, Robert Goodman, and Marcia McNally reveal the legacy of a generation of designers who rejected traditional design in favor of participatory design methods.
Film Screenings:
- Irish Architectural Foundation, Dublin, Ireland, Beyond Participation conference, June 9, 2016
- Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Conference, Raleigh, NC, May 18, 2016
- University of California, Berkeley, CA, College of Environmental Design Library, March to June 2016
- Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, Architecture 121: "Intro to Design", March 16, 2015
- Creative Exchange Lab, St. Louis MO, January, 2014
- Washington University in St. Louis, MO, City Seminar, School of Architecture, November 2013
- Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Conference, Providence, RI, May 29-June 1, 2013
- St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Oct 2012
- Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Conference, Seattle, WA, May 30-June 2, 2012
- University of California, Berkeley, CA, Architecture 110AC: “Social and Cultural Processes in Design,” Fall 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
- University of California, Berkeley, CA, City Planning 111: “Introduction to Housing,” Fall 2011
- The Death and Life of Social Factors Conference, University of California, Berkeley, April 29–May 1, 2011
If you would like to have a screening at your school or non-profit, you may invite the directors Ayda Melika and Susanne Cowan to visit your organization, or you may buy copy of the film and hold your own screening. We allow non-profit and academic screenings that do not charge entrance fees as long as our names are credited in the promotions and the credits are rolled at the screening. We would love to know if you hold a public screening.
For profit screenings should contact Reform by Activism and Design to negotiate licensing fees.
Classroom Screenings and Lesson Plans
These three films have been edited specifically for classroom viewing. Their short length, 20 to 35 minutes, make them perfect for showing in a 1 hour lecture course as a trigger for conversation. The films give historical background on each topic, of social research, community design, and participatory design. However they also pose questions about what role these design techniques have in education and practice today. The films are a wonderful way to connect the history of the architectural practice with theoretical discussion of the current state of the field. We suggest showing only one film at a time at each classroom screening, as the three films were not intended to be shown all in succession at one time.
Photo from this page:
Cover, Design as a Social Act, Reform By Activism Design, 2014. Cover photo from Bill Brett/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
Past