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Abstract

The social production of built form can be characterized by three ideal types: vernacular building, organizational management, and creative individual. An ethnography of contemporary architectural practice in the USA portrays an alternative model of the design process as a social construction, comprised of dilemmas which, once resolved, pose new contradictions. An analysis of three case studies of buildings with design quality reveals that design participants invoke a series of dialectical strategies to respond to the uncertainties and contradictions of the situation. These strategies, introduced by quotations from the buildings' makers, are described in contrast to the approaches taken by participants in everyday design practice. The production of the built environment is seen as a complex, interactive, social process which is formative, constructed out of a loosely orchestrated constellation of key individuals in organizations, who together develop design solutions.

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The Social Production of Built Form

Abstract

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References