Method Guide: Making

ACTIVATING ANALYZING INFORMING MAKING MAPPING STORYTELLING

METHOD GUIDE

WHAT IS MAKING? Making is the process of designing or building structures and landscapes that are produced with the input and participation of the communities where they are sited. [bc]’s built projects are conscious of their physical and natural context and work to support local social fabrics. Making work ranges from single family affordable home design, multi-family affordable and permanent supportive housing, larger scale civic green spaces and parks, and small site specific installations.

MAKING PRINCIPLES • Making brings choice to neighborhoods through

engagement, design, and construction.

• Making can range from design/build, design and construction management, to working with a community on a creative placemaking project, or in the role of producer.

• Making emphasizes that a physical product is a result of a project or activity.

MAKING IS A PART OF MANY PROJECTS 2 MILE TRAIL LAND SCAPE

Belden Trail connects three historic neighborhoods along an abandoned rail line, and is part of the Brownsville’s growing network of hike and bike infrastructure.

80’ OF GALLERY POPUP ART

The Container Gallery is a mobile exhibit space inside a repurposed 45’ shipping container. The gallery hosts displays, pop-up art exhibitions, and gatherings in neighborhoods around Dallas

HOUSING 50 HOME LESS SERVICES

The Cottages at Hickory Crossing provide permanent supportive housing and onsite services for 50 of Dallas’ most chronically homeless individuals.

Activities along the Beldon Trail and under the pavilion.

DISASTER RECOVERY PROTO TYPE

RAPIDO is a disaster recovery model, tested through 20 temporary-to-permanent prototype homes for families affected by Hurricane Dolly.

PUBLIC ART FESTIVAL GALLERY

The Ark on Noah Street is an annual neighborhood celebration in the 10th Street Historic District. The centerpiece is the construction of The Ark, a large public art piece that houses a community gallery.

ACTIVATING

Making projects each have a unique process, designed to suit the scale and complexity of that project. The components of the process must define the problems or issues that design can address, and the impacts the project can have on its clients, users, community, and environment. It is also key to define the roles needed to bring a project to fruition.

ANALYZING

INFORMING

MAKING

MAPPING

Beall Street sustainABLEhouse

STORYTELLING

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HOW IS MAKING DONE? CONGO STREET INITIATIVE

LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES/LIBROS LIBRES

The Congo Street Initiative rebuilt 6 homes, realized the first public “green” street in Dallas, and is continuing with the redevelopment of 6 more lots on a street only a block long.

The project responded to long-term neglect by the city and absentee property owners, and the potential displacement of multi-generational residents. The project grew through intense interaction with residents, stakeholders and partners into a collaborative design and redevelopment effort. A “Holding House” model created a process where redevelopment could occur without current residents being relocated or incurring a steep financial burden

Little Free Libraries/Libros Libres builds on the international Little Free Library model by creating a collaborative design process that provides free access to books housed within high quality, contextually relevant structures. This project is often a community’s introduction to an engaged design process. The results are useful and highly visible, providing a great example of the potential of collaboration and design.

SINGLE FAMILY • Worked with residents on the street to design and reach consensus on the strategy for rebuilding.

• Deconstructed and rebuilt each home on the north side of the street.

• Redesigned and installed new drainage, landscape, and energy infrastructure.

• Introduced new homeowners, and designing new homes on the south side of the street.

SMALL INTERTENTIONS • Facilitating community meetings, designer orientation, and design reviews • Ensuring design quality through internal and peer review • Overseeing the quality of construction and installation • Facilitating the stewardship of the final product in catalyzing new public spaces.

Moorland YMCA LFL opening celebration

LA HACIENDA CASITAS

Congo Street

La Hacienda Casitas is a 56-unit multi-family development serving extremely-low to moderate income families. Addressing an extreme lack of quality affordable rental options in the Rio Grande Valley, La Hacienda transformed the site of an abandoned housing complex to create high quality development designed in harmony with the natural environment and its surrounding cultural context. The project integrated low-impact design, preserving many existing trees and creating a central green with many on-site community amenities.

MULTI FAMILY • Facilitating a quality model workshop with project stakeholders and residents of the area.

• Designing residential units and community buildings.

• Integrating low-impact development strategies into the site and landscape design • Construction Oversight La Hacienda Casistas

ACTIVATING

ANALYZING

INFORMING

MAKING

MAPPING

STORYTELLING

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DR2 community meeting

DISASTER RECOVER ROUND 2

THE DR2 PROCESS

As the second round of disaster recovery in the City of Houston, DR2 delivered 300 homes in neighborhoods damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Ike in the Fall of 2008. DR2 delivers choice in home design by introducing a process of community engagement into disaster housing recovery. Bringing together diverse groups of residents, design professionals, and stakeholders, the project undertakes a unique disaster recovery model the engenders pride in homeowners and communities.

This making process created a catalogue of 16 home designs that are sensitive to each neighborhood’s context. [bc] played many roles from engagement facilitator for local architecture firm engagement with communities, working with community members to finalize home choice, creation of construction documents, and construction management. All of this work was done in coordination with multiple partners and across large areas of the city making it a uniquely, challenging, and successful process.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

six target neighborhoods were studied for contextual & programmatic design preferences using mapping & analyzing, data was processed following feedback on needs & desires

SCHEMATIC DESIGN

information was processed into design options and a gallery show was created to display the designs through informing, neighborhood residents were able to review the initial designs provide feedback & designs were shortlisted to move forward in the process

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

documents were created for permitting and execution of the project in neighborhoods across the Houston

using analyzing & informing, Home Design Catalog with 22 unique designs was created to help residents customize designs

CONSTRUCTION

design solutions were refined & implemented, the construction process was overseen

MOVE IN

260 families moved into finished homes informing & storytelling were used to share the story of each community, best practices, lessons learns, and to celebrate program achievements DR2 home owner in front of their new home

ACTIVATING

ANALYZING

INFORMING

MAKING

MAPPING

STORYTELLING

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WHY IS MAKING IMPORTANT? Making, in its best form, creates a physical manifestation of a community and the skills of the designer. It meets the physical needs of the neighborhoods that we live, work, play, and learn in. In our work, Making has a wide range of scales, from a small temporary installation or Little Free Library to single family homes and large multi-family developments. Making can be simply engaging a single family to provide choice in housing, or a complex negotiation between multiple project partners, funders, regulatory agencies, and communities. No matter the complexity or scale of the process, a successful Making project results in a product of individual and community choice.

WHY SHOULD YOU MAKE? The process of Making addresses social, economic, and environmental issues; most often tackling all three of these areas in a single project. We believe that it is of vital importance for all who work in community-engaged design to practice Making in some form. As an individual, neighborhood association, or as a professional design firm, Making has a dramatic and lasting impact. Each time we make something we bring people together through the improvement of the built environment.

WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES? Making can tackle a vast array of issues from water quality and drainage issues, to fair housing and disaster recovery. The key outcomes of Making include choice, better quality of life, and increased ownership of the built environment. Our work is rooted in community informed design practices and rigorous data analysis. The impact of Making goes beyond square footage or number of units constructed. The products of Making project are used to tell the stories of the community it serves and to amplify voices that often go unheard are a natural product of this work.

Building the Ark on Noah Street

The buildingcommunityWORKSHOP is a Texas based nonprofit community design center seeking to improve the livability and viability of communities through the practice of thoughtful design and making. We enrich the lives of citizens by bringing design thinking to areas of our cities where resources are most scarce.

To do so, [bc] recognizes that it must first understand the social, economic, and environmental issues facing a community before beginning work.

The Cottages at Hickory Crossing under construction

Thank you to all of our partners and the funders of the projects detailed in this guide. Most importantly, to all of our neighborhood partners, community members, and volunteers who make this work possible, we could not have done any of it without you.

ACTIVATING ANALYZING INFORMING MAKING MAPPING STORYTELLING

www.bcWORKSHOP.org/making