Week -5: Call to Action

It’s coming on 2 weeks since our first organizational meeting, and we’ve come a long way. Looking forward, we have 5 weeks before the deadline for submission to OAN. That seems like a good chunk of time, but things can be deceiving. Depending on who has the right skills and available time, we’ll probably need the final week or two just to transfer the final SL design into the RL files required by OAN. So we really only have three or so weeks left to come up with our consensus for the winning design.

I want to emphasize as much as I can that although our final design entry will be entered into a traditional design competition, the process within the Studio Wikitecture group is not structured primarily as a competition. The whole point of Studio Wikitecture is to discover and demonstrate how collaboration among a global cross-section of individuals (non-architects as well as architects) can combine their varied skills to produce a design that is superior to one done by one or two professional architects working in isolation.

What does this mean for the process? We certainly need people to submit their original ideas to the Wiki Tree, as many have and I hope more will. But just as important is for all the group members to consider those designs, discuss them, and then offer feedback, be it positive of negative. The quickest way to offer feedback is by voting. If you see a design that has something you like, click on its leaf in the Wiki tree to make it active (if it isn’t already) and then click on either of the thumbs-up prims near the top of the trunk. If you see a design you don’t like, click on the thumbs-down prim. Don’t wait; start doing that now. These votes are not expected to be your final opinion. As design refinement progresses, you’ll vote for or against other leaves. Each person only gets 3 positive and 3 negative active votes, so once you have reached 3, your oldest vote will get removed when you cast a new one.

Voting is quick, but by itself it can be ambiguous. When you vote for a design, you’re not saying that you think it is perfect for submission. What is it you like about it? Is it the grand concept? The sensitivity to the environment? The builder’s skills in presenting their ideas? Are there things you would like to see changed? Without augmenting your vote with comments, it is impossible for the submitter, or others, to know what aspects caused you to vote, and to take that into account in the next design iteration.

And then there is contributing by creating and submitting a design to the tree. Here, please don’t feel constrained to the submission of “original” work. If you have the building skills, the best way to give feedback on someone else’s design is to take a copy, modify it and submit it back to the tree. This is not plagiarism, it is an integral part of the collaborative design process. For some, this is a hard concept to get comfortable with. But think of how Wikipedia has come to be the greatest encyclopedia the world has ever seen. It would never have become what it is if individuals had each written their own version of an article, and then there was a judging to see which article would become the official one.

In summary, regardless of your particular skills, you can contribute right now. Please do. And don’t forget that we’ll be having a meeting on Monday at 1:00PM at 2nd Live for a synchronous discussion.

A New Project — Safe Trestles

Starting today, we have a new Studio Wikitecture project!  We’re going to be entering another Open Architecture Network design competition, Safe Trestles.

The Challenge

Access to Trestles, one of North America’s most celebrated waves, is under threat due to safety and environmental concerns. Currently, over 100,000 people each year follow informal trails through wetlands and over active train tracks to gain access to the surf breaks at Trestles. These impromptu man-made paths present a safety hazard with passing trains and threaten the fragile ecosystem of Trestles.

The challenge seeks to create innovative visions for a path leading to Trestles that:

• Provides safe access between the drop-off point, the railroad, and the beach.
• Restores and protects the coastal wetlands that have been damaged by foot traffic.
• Provides opportunities for view points and education.
• Provides solutions for accessibility, including ADA compliant facilities.

The design should serve both surfers and visitors to the beach, restore wetlands that have been damaged by the path, preserve and augment vistas, and offer education about the history of the site and the coastal environment.

See the full design brief on the Open Archtecture Network web site.

Timing

OAN has designed the competition in two phases, followed by a design contract for the winning competition entry.  The deadline for the first phase is April 17, so it will have to be a faster, more intense, process than any of our previous projects.  Up to 5 designs will be chosen for the second phase; which is scheduled to end  August 17.  The winning design group will then be awarded a contract to work with the multitude of stakeholders to review and refine the design.

The first thing we need to do is to locate a site for the Wiki Tree. While the current Open Source implementation of the Wiki Tree supports an unlimited number of trees at the same time, there is still a restriction to one tree per region.  So we need to find some space in a region that doesn’t already have an  active Wiki tree project.  If you can provide that space, or know of someone whom we might contact, please IM Omei Turnbull or Keystone Bouchard.