Beyond solidity: a participatory approach for formal housing design

Abstract

The research is grounded in the idea of conceptualizing formal housing beyond solidity is to make a shift in approach: from traditional ‘provision’, a static product, to ‘participation’, a dynamic process, where residents actively engage and contribute. The concept captures this transformation toward a shared, collaborative agenda from a human-centric view. The study aims to follow a multi-layered methodological journey, encompassing various forms of collaboration and design development phases, including informal storytelling, co-creative discussions, and shared issue exploration, which progressed through different stages of idea generation, to develop co-created, context-specific design findings that align with government-mandated housing standards. Notably, a significant outcome of this process was overcoming their collective limitations through the emergence of the co-conceptualized informal communal zone. Expanding on these insights, the article positions design as a collaborative act that aligns with the evolving ethos of contemporary architectural practice.