{"id":776315,"date":"2025-02-25T07:50:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T07:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=776315"},"modified":"2025-02-25T08:34:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T08:34:36","slug":"community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent","title":{"rendered":"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first moved to London three and something decades ago, I entered the hallowed halls of 66 Portland Place in search of a job. A small gallery devoted to \u2018Community Architecture\u2019 caught my eye.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m indebted to that small room, because it was there that I learned of the work of HTA and JTP founder John Thompson at Lea View House in Hackney, where the architects had established a site office in a vacant flat to establish an onsite presence with residents. Just back from two years working in Bras\u00edlia\u2019s satellite cities, this was exactly the type of work I was after.<\/p>\n

Several fulfilling years at Hunt Thompson Associates (now the two practices HTA Design and JTP) ensued. These were packed with tenant consultation meetings and high-voltage community planning weekends \u2013 intense three-day consultations with a wide range of stakeholders that culminated in a slide show (put together single-handedly by John Thompson sorting hundreds of slides into the wee hours) that presented a proposed plan back to the community.<\/p>\n

On one such weekend on Manchester\u2019s politically charged Hulme Estate, local authority employees joined forces with tenants, squatters and New Age Travellers to develop a revitalisation plan for the estate.<\/p>\n

Times have changed and the profession today is rapidly changing, partly jumpstarted by climate activism and calls for a just transition. Community engagement is no longer the purview of the few. A welcome and widespread focus on social value and co-design, driven in part by ESG requirements, suggests that architecture is gradually becoming more responsive and inclusive. Approaches that take on board a wide range of voices through active participation are gaining momentum.<\/p>\n

The engagement of the largest practices in this sphere is crucial<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though often the territory of nimble young practices, the AJ100<\/a> elicits best practice from larger practices that are making a difference. Big practices lead big projects with big impacts, so the engagement of the largest practices in this sphere is crucial. Last year, the AJ100 awards were restructured, introducing new categories, such as Community Impact, New Talent, and AJ100 Champions, to reflect this evolution and to shine a light on innovators who are driving positive change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2024 Community Impact award went to AWW for its Mary Ward Centre adult education college in Stratford, the retrofit and conversion of a disused office building. Extensive consultation with staff, students and the nearby community resulted in the incorporation of breakout spaces to complement classrooms so that students could spend time at the centre beyond their classes, particularly valuable for many in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n

Pupils are equipped with thermal cameras to detect poor thermal performance<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many diverse players are exploring new ways of engaging communities and end users in the design process. Harry Paticas\u2019 RAFT (Retrofit Action for Tomorrow<\/a>), whose 20-strong team recently marked the fifth anniversary of its impactful programme of primary school decarbonisation, combines deep technical knowhow with passionate engagement with head teachers, facility managers and schoolchildren. Pupils are equipped with thermal cameras to detect poor thermal performance within their school\u2019s external fabric. These are our future climate warriors.<\/p>\n

The recent Thornton Educational Trust\u2019s Inspiring Future Generations (IFG) awards,<\/a> which recognise programmes that provide ways for children and young people to engage with the built environment, highlighted similar initiatives. Jan Kattein Architects\u2019 Paper Garden in Canada Water is a British Land-supported community building and garden for charity Global Generation that pushed boundaries on reuse and natural materials, constructed by 3,000 volunteers.<\/p>\n

Charity Climate Change All Change<\/a> (CCAC) brings designers into primary schools to help children understand climate change and how they can be part of the solution. Designers partnering with CCAC (including Zaha Hadid Architects, Arup, Levitt Bernstein and DaeWha Kang Design) are lobbying government to incorporate climate change into the primary school curriculum and support threatened Design and Technology teaching.<\/p>\n

Stanton Williams\u2019 youth outreach programme, developed since 2020 with nearby City and Islington College, includes drawing sessions, model building workshops, building visits and mentoring that expose students to potential careers in the built environment. This is a straightforward approach that could be replicated by any practice.<\/p>\n

This is only a small sampling of many community engagement initiatives underway. The partnering of large and small practices to deliver this work, as Tara Gbolade explains in episode #56 of my Climate Champions podcast<\/a>, is another frequent approach. A case in point is Civic Engineers\u2019 recent acquisition of New Practice to deliver social value in-house.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet a groundswell. But in these uncertain times, it is heartening to see so many practitioners promoting a just transition. What was branded \u2018Community Architecture\u2019 in the 1990s has come full-circle. Hand-made slide shows may have been replaced by apps and Tiktok videos, but the thrust is similar. This time, I hope it is here to stay.<\/p>\n

Hattie Hartman is the AJ\u2019s sustainability editor\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first moved to London three and something decades ago, I entered the hallowed halls of 66 Portland Place in search of a job. A small gallery devoted to \u2018Community Architecture\u2019 caught my eye. I\u2019m indebted to that small room, because it was there that I learned of the work of HTA and JTP …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80620,"featured_media":776326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[745],"tags":[100551,2935,1996,4095],"yoast_head":"\nCommunity architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By focusing on co-design and social value, architecture is becoming more responsive and inclusive, echoing the \u2018community architecture\u2019 of the \u201990s, writes Hattie Hartman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By focusing on co-design and social value, architecture is becoming more responsive and inclusive, echoing the \u2018community architecture\u2019 of the \u201990s, writes Hattie Hartman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T07:50:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T08:34:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/02\/24172150\/Community-1024x683.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hattie Hartman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hattie Hartman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent\",\"name\":\"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-25T07:50:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-25T08:34:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1a1a75d34c6457924cc89741d1569722\"},\"description\":\"By focusing on co-design and social value, architecture is becoming more responsive and inclusive, echoing the \u2018community architecture\u2019 of the \u201990s, writes Hattie Hartman\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\",\"description\":\"Architecture News & Buildings\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1a1a75d34c6457924cc89741d1569722\",\"name\":\"Hattie Hartman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/61c6c5005d900ed669f1d4d3922c0d01\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2b386fe68a2cc0b838bbc647aafb762?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2b386fe68a2cc0b838bbc647aafb762?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hattie Hartman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/hattie-hartman\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?","description":"By focusing on co-design and social value, architecture is becoming more responsive and inclusive, echoing the \u2018community architecture\u2019 of the \u201990s, writes Hattie Hartman","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?","og_description":"By focusing on co-design and social value, architecture is becoming more responsive and inclusive, echoing the \u2018community architecture\u2019 of the \u201990s, writes Hattie Hartman","og_url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent","og_site_name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","article_published_time":"2025-02-25T07:50:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-25T08:34:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/02\/24172150\/Community-1024x683.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Hattie Hartman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hattie Hartman","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent","name":"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-25T07:50:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-25T08:34:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1a1a75d34c6457924cc89741d1569722"},"description":"By focusing on co-design and social value, architecture is becoming more responsive and inclusive, echoing the \u2018community architecture\u2019 of the \u201990s, writes Hattie Hartman","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/community-architecture-is-back-is-this-part-of-the-90s-revival-or-something-more-permanent#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community architecture is back. Is this part of the \u201890s revival or something more permanent?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/","name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","description":"Architecture News & Buildings","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1a1a75d34c6457924cc89741d1569722","name":"Hattie Hartman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/61c6c5005d900ed669f1d4d3922c0d01","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2b386fe68a2cc0b838bbc647aafb762?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2b386fe68a2cc0b838bbc647aafb762?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hattie Hartman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/hattie-hartman"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776315"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":776346,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776315\/revisions\/776346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}