Elements of the Apparatus _ Design Studio

Focusing on human centered, non hierarchical design approaches and user defined space, ‘Elements of the Apparatus’ was an exploration into alternative methods of analysis out side traditional modes of interior design practice.

Drawing on a diverse range of industry practice including architecture, industrial design, community engagement and cultural mapping, this interdisciplinary design studio focused on a variety of ‘tools of analysis’ with which to identify, extract and inform the individualities of a given site and project.

Amongst the ‘tools’ the participants tested included narrative, site specifics, cultural mapping, place making, context driven design solutions, community engagement, re-localization and integrated sustainable design solutions.

In the final project brief, participants were given a site on which there existed run down, empty or dilapidated buildings.  Rather than imposing a program on each site or building, participants were asked to allow the analysis and community engagement strategies to inform the programmatic response and context driven design outcome.

From parks to retail space, restaurants to homeless shelters the resulting projects traversed a broad range of scales, programs, concepts and architectural languages. The outcomes were highly individualized yet bound by a common thread in which the participants embraced the complexities of a given site and context identified through the elements of the apparatus.

Elements of the Apparatus was run in collaboration with Philippa Abbott