Design Studio
The beautiful Pacific Ocean greeted the participants at Bor Nok, and there they dived into the Design Studio with Max, Om and Joe facilitating the week. The purpose of the Design Studio was for the participants to use the knowledge they learned through the previous four weeks, to design a project in a real-life setting of a local community. The Design studio also taught the concept and tools of Participatory Action Research (PAR) for the participants to learn using participatory approach. PAR was presented as a method to raise awareness, to understand the circumstance of the four aspects of the community, and to find the needs and wants of and in the community for design. The goal of the Design Studio was for the participants to earn insight and experience in integrated design, to learn how to draw knowledge from the villagers and learn to share knowledge with the villagers all through a participatory approach that encourages empowerment and sustainability.
The Studio started with meeting with the villagers and hearing their stories. The villagers shared their dreams and intentions of starting a community learning centre and an eco ? restaurant. The participants had two sessions to interview and discus with the villagers in small groups. After the initial meeting, they learned to observe and read the land, led by Max. They learned to analyse the information from their interview with villagers and from their observation on the land. They then had a session to present their data & analysis to the big group, including the villagers. After the data analysis they came to design the whole system of the land and semi-system (detail design). For their final session, they presented the final designs to the whole group and villagers, who all offered feedback.
The participants found it exciting to practice designing a real project on a real site and interact with the villagers who started the project. Some participants wished they could have had more time interacting with the villagers, others wished they could have more time for design, but that was because they took it serious and wished to make their best designs. However, the villagers found their designs were impressive and useful for them.
