BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

design. Two young people from the community in particular, Stefanie Wilson
and Larry Goldstone, organized others to work in teams. Stefanie, who
was 20 years old, became the Center's assistant director, and made a human
resources map showing where everyone lived and what their interests, needs
and goals were; and Larry, who was 15 years old at the time, orchestrated
his friends in documenting the whole neighborhood and making a scale model
out of cardboard. ' As more and more materials from the community became
available, the architects began to dialogue with the perceptions of their
constituents, and the dialogue began to express itself first in diagrams
and then in conceptual design drawings. They found to their astonishment
that "if you talk from the depth and the heart of your mind", complex and
abstract planning and architectural ideas will be comprehended by ordinary
people, and rich and valuable dialogue will ensue.
"With all the complexity implied by its participatory aspects, the
process is difficult to condense into outline form. It can, however
be broken into several phases which, except for all of those
inputs, are similar to traditional design methods.
"The first phase was the introductory and evaluative phase, both
for the architects and the community. This phase produced the impressions,
the views and counterviews and, finally, the credibility
needed to go on.
"Phase two was a period for the expression of abstract thoughts
about the needs (program), the goals (aspirations), the situation
(constraints) and the implications (directions) of building functions.
Pieces of the program were explored and community hopes and
ideals were measured against economic, legal and technical constraints.
Since the gym, pool, library, auditorium and medical services were
seen as joint-use facilities for school and community, more interest
was generated in their solution. Students and community members
made signs, built study models and generally expressed themselves.
"Phases three and four produced seven study schemes, and a final
scheme, respectively. As in the previous phases, ideas proposed
by a housewife, a student, the cop on the beat or that nice little
old lady were investigated while they looked on. This gave each
the opportunity to see how architects work and to instantly understand
the drawbacks and/or merits of their contribution."(1)
l) James Murphy, "By the People", an account of the design process for the
East Orange Middle School, Progressive Architecture, February 1972,
pp. 85-95; also James Murphy, "A Second Look", Progressive Architecture,
December 1976, pages 56-59.
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