Crossing Borders
After working on the original design codes in Oxford, the B.U.D.S. trip takes place and brings nine students to Brazil. Here is a detailed account of how B.U.D.S. ties into the student project.
From Point
A
To Point
B
The project we are working on requires us to act as international planning consultants who are hired by the city council to develop planning guidelines for specific development areas, in this case social housing development. We had to generate design codes for two blocks on a site located in Pelotas (Brazil) from Oxford in the UK.
A design code is a system used in urban planning to create a rulebook for developers and architects to follow in order to build in a certain area. It touches various aspects such as blocks, plots, streets, building layout, materials, open spaces and so on.
We had to come up with a code from the UK based on limited amount of informational sources. These included google maps of the site, street view from the same company, videos created by the students from the university of UFPEL in and around Pelotas, talking to our module lecturer who is from Pelotas.
From the information we had, we constructed design codes for various aspects of the built environment. This touched the structure of plots and blocks, the buildings, and finally the street. We created very detailed profile codes for these, but they did not cover other aspects as they were going to be the basis of the workshops held at the university in Pelotas.
Fast forward to 10 April when the workshops took place; a site visit was the first thing we did with the Brazilian students. Going to the site was a whole other source of information which we could not have gotten if we did not travel to Pelotas. It provided us with a feeling of the place, of an understanding of the site, and a unique sensory experience of the area. This information would not have been able to be obtained in the UK as one has to be there to experience it.
Partnership with local Architects and Planners from Pelotas gave an insight on vernacular architecture and the Brazilian custom. For example: livestock, post box, local vegetation and technical details on architecture.
Working in association with Pelotas, we have gained experience working across cultures as well as dealing with language barriers to showcase our ideas and designs. We also learned to importance of local public participation to create an efficient design.
We were fully aware of the dissimilarity in cultural context and lifestyle and their possible impact on our design. Via the workshop, we learnt that by saying yes to the differences and the impossibilities, we are saying yes to more.