Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities [Paperback]

Sergio Palleroni (Author), Christina Merkelbach (Author), Bryan Bell (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Sustainable Design from the Pacific Northwest | Publication Date: October 2004

For more than a decade, architects and students at the University of Washington have been working with squatter communities in Mexico, migrant laborers in eastern Washington, and Indian reservations of the inland West as well as communities in Cuba, India, and Africa to provide housing, schools, clinics, and other vital structures. Led by Sergio Palleroni, these pioneering design/build programs have combined innovative architectural training with cross-cultural immersion, social activism, and environmental science, using design skills and hands-on construction projects to confront poverty and urgent social problems one building at a time. "Studio at Large" documents the international and regional community studios organized by Palleroni and his colleagues, typically held in intensive ten-week builds in marginalized communities. Involving community members and students, these studios promote maximum use of recycled or inexpensive, locally available materials, as well as lighting and energy systems that reduce utility costs and promote resource conservation. They serve as models for making architectural education relevant to urgent social problems, helping communities mobilize indigenous resources and social capital to develop creative problem solving skills and long-term sustainable practices that protect rather than erode cultural identity, dignity, and stability. By linking sustainable design to active community participation, by demonstrating the interdependence between the way the first and third worlds live, and by making the whole process into a pedagogical experience these design/build programs bring home the lessons of global interdependence in a vivid and durable way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This subject is critically important and is becomming even more so in the globally connected world in which we live. Studio at Large will be well received by the design community, social advocacy professionals, and faculty and students in a range of professional fields."--John McRae, Mississippi State University "These design solutions only come with hard work before the design starts that yields trust from the community and then a deep understanding of their needs. It is up to the reciprocating skill of the designer to transform the needs into a physical response."--from the Foreword by Bryan Bell

About the Author

Sergio Palleroni was a professor at the University of Washington for 12 years and the founder of the UW Basic Initiative, a multidisciplinary fieldwork program which each year challenges students to apply their education at the University of Washington in service of the problems facing marginalized communities throughout the world. He has worked on housing and community development in the developing world since the 1970's both for not-for-profit agencies and governmental and international agencies such as UNESCO, World Bank. In the last two decades he has applied this experience to establishing programs in housing and development at the University of Texas Austin and Penn State University as well as the University of Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press; 1 edition (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295984325
• ISBN-13: 978-0295984322
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars architect and builder, December 17, 2004

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architect and builder (seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities (Paperback)

Its good to see that the rural studios work is not unique but rather part of a movement, with other brilliant examples such as the work documented in this book. Beautifully illustrated. Probably the most in depth discussion I've read on the methods and challenges of work among the poor and underserved.
A great contribution to architectures claim to relevance.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities, May 18, 2007

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A. Mahboubi (Cupertino, California United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities (Paperback)

Prof. Sergio Palleroni teaches the "art-and-science" of "architecture" the old fashion way--with leadership and passion! He's not affraid of rolling up his sleeves, soiling his boot and spending his summer vacations with his students (the future leaders): teaching design, scheduling and building sustainable communities in the "developing countries."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sergio Palleroni is one of the most influential promoters of sustainable architecture in the later 21st century, September 6, 2007

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Student - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities (Paperback)

This is a great book for both those people who are interested in learning about or those people who are already familiar with environmentally friendly "green" building pratices used in sustainable architecture. Studio at Large specifically chronicles the achievements of the UW BASIC Initiative program that Sergio Palleroni and his colleagues created in 1995. It is fascinating and moving to see the impact this work has on the local and global levels in society.