Design Engagement Studios
The Design Engagement Studios within the Architecture + Design program support critically engaged research and reflective practices in architecture, art and digital media for communities and community-based organizations in Massachusetts and beyond. The studios link academic resources with community needs, and advocates for innovative design solutions in the contemporary built-environment. The studios support progressive university-community partnerships, promote reciprocal learning and teach the value of collaborative design practices through sustained partnerships with community-based organizations.
The Architecture + Design program’s Design Engagement Studios provide a context for community-based projects to be an integrated part of faculty research and student learning by establishing a clear process to link engaged research and teaching to community development. Using a variety of outreach strategies throughout the region that describe the type of projects that faculty/students are able to offer support for, the studios actively seek collaborations with organizations to address social, community and/or cultural needs. In general, projects involve working with a community or governmental group to plan and/or design a project through any phase of the design/development process --from research, programming and policy analysis, sustainability studies, schematic design, information design, public art and community envisioning.