The research was funded by a grant of $100,000 for the 2011 Latrobe Research Prize awarded by the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. The jury stated that the “research that will help us understand and deal with the dramatic social, economic, environmental, and technological hangs that have occurred in the wake of the Great Recession. . . Many of the assumptions that have long guided the field of architecture no longer seem relevant to the challenges we now face not only as a profession and discipline, but as a civilization. . . Nor can we assume that the practices that have guided architectural practice in the 20th century will serve us in the 21st.” [2011 Latrobe Prize Announcement.]
The research team used three strategies — surveys, interviews and workshops — to collect the relevant information from three perspectives: those of public interest practitioners, their partners, and general architectural practitioners. The aim of the research is to gain a better understanding of public interest models and methods.
Full Report is available here: Public Interest Architecture in Practice
