Community Design: Engagement Beyond the Classroom

Mary Comerio, Elmhurst Community Design Center, Berkeley, CA

Arch 201: Graduate studio in community design. "Course offered parallel with LA 200B, Urban Landscape Design. The community design studio takes on a number of projects initiated by various community organizations, agencies and individuals. The studio therefore provides the students with a chance to be involved in some real projects and learn skills related to community design and development. Students work in the off-campus community design center located in South Berkeley. Mary Comerio, Fall every second year, 5 units."

Arch 222: A seminar on advanced studies in community development and design. "The course begins with a historical survey of design methods and approaches used by architects in their attempts at intervention in the social order. Special emphasis is placed on the comparison of Modern movement ideals with recent practice in order to develop an understanding of the theory that informs community development and design work. The “market” for community design and generation of other “alternative” professional services are also studies, in terms of how it has changed over time, and the impact it has on the evolution of architectural practice. The skills architects need to work effectively in the area of community development are community organizing, participatory design, advocacy theory and practice, negotiation, grantsmanship, public programs and private initiatives."

Source: Social and Cultural Emphasis Brochure, College of Environmental Design, 1988. Slides courtesy of the Visual Resources Center, UC Berkeley, Mary Comerio Slide Collection.

Community Design Center Projects of 1980-81

Project: 73rd Avenue Owner-Built Housing.
Slides courtesy of the Visual Resources Center, UC Berkeley, Mary Comerio Slide Collection.

Projects: the Berkeley Free Clinic, the Sims Daycare Center, assorted.
Images courtesy of the Visual Resources Center, UC Berkeley, Mary Comerio Slide Collection, and the College of Environmental Design Archives, Mary Comerio Collection.