client: Sustainable Communities Lab, Perkins+Will scope: Graphic guidebook designed to facilitate internal training for architecture firm of 2000 professionals. role: Lead Author, project design, project graphics. team: Rebecca Holt, Alex Felson, Rachael Sharkland, Chella Strong
overview
The goal was to give architects confidence that they can make a positive difference in functioning ecosystems beyond the scale of individual projects.
PROJECTS AS PIXELS: Urban planners and environmental scientists think about cities as systems. They look at large scale patterns of development dynamically impacted by flows of people, currency, water, nutrients etc. Architects, on the other hand, work project by project, over time designing a series of discrete moments. Our individual projects – hospitals, houses, schools, parks are the pixels which together form the built environment.
RE-CONSTRUCTING URBAN ECOSYSTEMS: If we want to heal the systems that support life - in cities and elsewhere - we need to consider the individual projects - or pixels - in light of their place in larger patterns of the built environment.
design approach
The toolkit was designed to introduce a series of highly complex topics to a motivated but busy and highly visually oriented audience. Simple hierarchical organization, spare layout and clear graphics are combined to allow for both quick perusal and deeper investigation.
The toolkit was designed to introduce a series of highly complex topics to a motivated but busy and highly visually oriented audience. Simple hierarchical organization, spare layout and clear graphics are combined to allow for both quick perusal and deeper investigation.