“Americans spend 90% of their time indoors” explains Marc Kushner in this animated talk in which he discusses how architecture shapes us and triggers our emotional connections to places. He discusses how designers shift between being innovative and relying on traditional symbols as they respond to changing style, technologies, and needs. While architecture doesn’t take a long time to design, it takes a long time to construct — and during this time, an architect may have designed many more buildings in a similar way. As a result, it can take a long time for the feedback of people experiencing a building’s design to begin to shape architectural practice.
Kushner highlights how social media, assists to provide instantaneous feedback into a project. Sharing images of design concepts introduces a project to the community prior to construction or completion, and people can easily provide feedback and input, enabling greater collaboration between architects and the end users of their spaces.
Sarah is an urban planner and artist from Melbourne Australia, currently living in Seattle. She has contributed to diverse long-term projects addressing housing, transportation, community facilities, heritage and public spaces with extensive consultation with communities and other stakeholders. Her articles for The Urbanist focus on her passion for the design of sustainable, inviting and inclusive places, drawing on her research and experiences around the world.