ARC3720HS
Instructor: Aziza Chaouni
Meeting Section: LEC0101
Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Today, socially engaged architectural practices represent an emerging and diverse typology that seeks to redefine architecture from a market-driven profession to a fusion of activism, philanthropy, and social enterprise. These practices embrace a progressive set of values, including social equity, poverty reduction, and environmental protection.

Traditionally, architects have relied on clients, making them essentially "service providers" who execute projects according to the goals set by their clients. While clients remain crucial for the sustainability of the architecture profession, an increasing number of architectural practices and design professionals are shifting away from the conventional service-provider/moneyed client model. Instead, they are forming partnerships with non-profit organizations, educational institutions, international aid agencies, and civil society groups to actively participate in advocating for and shaping socially engaged projects from their inception to occupancy and beyond. This approach fosters the development of practice models that are more resilient to economic fluctuations exacerbated by factors such as economic crises, a surplus of architects, client scarcity, and intense competition within the field. Additionally, by reaching out to underrepresented "clients," these practice models bridge the gap between the wealthiest 1% of the population who can afford architectural services and the remaining 99%, who need such services but lack access.

In Global South countries, where the urban population boom often exceeds governments’ capacities to provide housing and public amenities, and where political, economic, and environmental crises deepen the socio-economic divide between the disadvantaged and the wealthy, alternative modes of design practice are urgently needed.

This applied research seminar aims to introduce students to socially engaged forms of practice through experts' lectures, films, readings, discussions, and a semester-long research project with a selected NGO working in the Global South. The objectives of the seminar are to prepare students to engage with Global South contexts, introduce them to architects and design approaches not covered by the Daniels' Curriculum, and, most importantly, to learn about and test socially engaged architecture as a mode of practice.