We live and practice in North Carolina’s second largest city, Raleigh. We are familiar with the vernacular buildings of the American South that were built by the people that used them and imbued with the intelligence of necessity. Today, in stark contrast, cities are being built at a frenetic pace, lacking the sensibilities of our practical forebears, and giving little thought to the social impact of development. More broadly, we work in a world that is lost between the promise of volumetric excess on the cheap and the image-drunk culture of social media. Here all things can be had with ease and with no regard for budget, climate, local constraints, social need, or the effort required to realize good work. In the face of this tide of development, we believe there can be a resistance that questions expediency, seeks deep connections to a place, addresses social problems, favors material quality, and provokes wonder. Work often occurs in a built environment that is searching for an identity. We must sustain our naivete to imagine design responses that negotiate between abstract expectations and real conditions, and create projects that make place in a seemingly placeless environment, resisting the anonymity of fad. Finding ideas and details within each project that are appropriate here, as opposed to anywhere else, requires a patient search. This work should be modern to the extent that it is provisional, made of common materials, possessed by a clear attitude about place, and aspirational in addressing social need. It should be suited to its context, quiet, practical, and unusual.

There is much work to be done! A culture of difference, the resulting built environment, and the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to systemic problems we now face throughout our cities. An ever-increasing separation between the wealthy and the poor, the disenfranchisement of our BIPOC & LGBTQ+ citizens, and the felling of our climate are all at the forefront of social and environmental policy and are immediate concerns to our communities. How can architects be agents of change in a complex matrix of social and cultural constructs?

Architecture is ultimately about building - sometimes with limited resources, hopefully beautifully, but always with a dedication to finding real solutions for people, not paper - real matter.

You will spend two weeks with a group of like-minded young designers in one of the fastest growing and most innovative urban centers in the American South. 

You will work in groups with other participants to study the city center, identify issues that can be solved through design, and propose design solutions. The workshop is centered around a two-week charrette that sparks critical vitality, generates new ideas for the city, and demonstrates the power of design thinking to address social stresses. 

Workshop work sessions will be led by academic practitioners at in situ studio and other local design practices. Lectures and panel discussions by accomplished architects and local thought leaders over the two weeks will spark your investigations and inspire the content and quality of your work. Tours of important local buildings will feed the reality of your projects. 

The workshop will yield critical design solutions for social problems in the city. This work will be represented via numerous social media platforms and will be the subject of a public exhibit at the end of the workshop. 

Participants will forge lasting relationships with talented peers from across North America, be introduced to and work alongside local design offices in the Raleigh region, and gain a foothold in one of the strongest design communities in the US south. 

With a selective acceptance process, the workshop is seen as an accolade for aspiring young designers.

The workshop will be held in downtown Raleigh, NC. There will be different venues for the workshop and the lecture series. These are tentative locations, and will be announced later in the year. Last year, we hosted the workshop in a co-working space in downtown Raleigh, and the lecture series was located in King’s, a local music venue. All workshop events will be in English.

Click here for last year’s workshop schedule!