Architectures of Engagement: searching for alternative approaches to context

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of contextually engaged methods of architectural production – methods that identify the social and material values of a particular place, aiming to work closely with them. At the core of this thesis is a personal motivation: between 2015 and 2016, involvement in a community park project in Romania granted first-hand experience of working closely with the local people and material resources of a neighborhood. As a result, historical and theoretical resources merge with personal, anecdotal experience – making up a largely reflective work discussing the benefits and downfalls of contextually engaged architecture.

The work carried out in the project – Parcul Chercea – falls within two broad frameworks: the development of socially and materially engaged architecture within the architectural profession and the particular socio-spatial conditions of post-socialist Romania. These will be outlined in part one and two, to shed light on the professional and cultural context the park reactivation project took place in. Following the developments beginning from the counter-reaction to modernism for instance, it is possible to trace the source of the themes present in our project. The final part – chapter three – will outline and reflect in further detail on the stages of the project in Chercea and the outcome and value of the various activities carried out in the park.

Key words: public space, park, post-socialist Romania, indeterminacy, context, temporary uses, participation, latent potentials