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Charrettes Give Builders Quick Glimpse Into Design Process
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The best plans to emerge from the charrette are presented and discussed in the final session of the Design Institute. |
 The design charrette at the upcoming NAHB/BALA Design Institute for Builders near Seattle will give builders who attend the charrette sessions an opportunity to participate — at a very accelerated pace — in the design process from the earliest stages.
Charettes are hands-on problem-solving over a very short, intense period of time. They also are some of the more popular sessions at the Design Institute conference.
At each session, groups of designers and builders are given a floor plan design problem and a deadline under which to develop a solution.
The process begins, quite literally, with a blank slate. Aside from the barest of guidelines — the project at the Design Institute will be a single-family home — participants in each charette session will decide every detail of the project — lot size, elevation, even the demographics of the owners — as they develop their answer to the problem.
“Builders can witness the thought process, see mistakes and revisions. They can participate fully in the process,” said Jeff LeFetra, an architect with Bassenian Lagoni in Newport Beach, Calif.
Two architects will be on hand to draft the participants’ suggestions. The goal of each group is to present a completed floor plan by the session’s conclusion. The best plans will be presented and discussed during the closing session of the conference.
The Origin of the 'Charrette'
The word charrette is from the French for “cart” or “chariot” and originated in 19th century Paris at the art and architecture school, École des Beaux-Arts. At that time, architecture students worked furiously on their design presentations en charrette — literally “in the cart” — while being wheeled through the streets of Paris on their way to turn in their assignments to their professors, according to the National Charrette Institute headquartered in Portland, Ore.
(Another popular origin of the word charrette also has it derived from carts, but not the carts used by the French architecture students. These carts were used by condemned prisoners on their way to the guillotine — giving present-day charette participants a somewhat less-nuanced perspective on the concept of deadlines.)
Attend the NAHB/BALA Design Institute for Builders
The NAHB/BALA Design Institute for Builders, the only design conference specifically for building industry professionals, will be held June 25-27 in Bellevue, Wash. (near Seattle).
Attendees will learn the latest in residential housing design trends from the industry's top professionals, tour beautiful award-winning homes and communities that display the best in cutting-edge architectural design, and learn how to profitably apply these design ideas to the homes they build.
For more information and to register, visit www.nahb.org/designinstitute.
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An architect helps charrette participants translate their ideas into floor plans at the 2006 Design Institute. |
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