Engaging the community in the design process

Headnote

ARCHITECTURALLY SPEAKING

No design is produced in a vacuum. A great design is composed of ideas drawn from a multitude of sources. In the building industry, design is often thought of as coming only from architects, interior designers and engineers but one often-overlooked principal element of design is the community's input.

In most cases the client is not a single individual but an entire community. The more input the client and architect gather, the more the design can cater to the needs of the specific community. Like a scientific experiment, the more data we have to work with, the more accurate the results.

Community engagement can go further than design input, though. Just sharing the progress of the project can generate excitement while encouraging transparency, ownership and communication. With all the avenues for communication available today there is opportunity to reach even the most diverse portions of the community.

Social media, though not accessible to everyone, is a great way to be transparent. Post updates as often as possible, even if they are just images of the initial renderings, a hand sketch from the architect, or photos of dirt being moved around. People love to have an inside look.

Posting on social media is also a great starting point for a project to gauge the environment and strategize best ways to move forward. Brian Freeman of Webster Central School District stated, "The most successful engagement [for our project] was through online engagement - dissemination of information across all district platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and the website. Understanding why we were doing the list of things and answering that question helped the most."

Keep posting as the project progresses so people can see how their thoughts and input are incorporated into the design. Social media acts as a time capsule allowing the community to look back on where the project started and how far it has come.

Online surveys are another way to engage the community at the beginning of a project....