Essays on the Social Art of Architecture

Each year the Berkeley Prize Committee invites a distinguished professor or scholar in the field of architecture or the related social sciences to write about some aspect of the year's Berkeley Prize topic. These essays serve several purposes: They are meant to help focus students' thoughts on the issues surrounding the year's Question. They are a model for excellence in writing. They exhibit both how defined and how broad the range of possible response to a Question. (In fact, in 2004, multiple responses were collected and posted for reading.) The growing number of these essays by "seasoned" thinkers provides a unique on-line resource for study. When these thoughts are read in combination with winning student essays, it is more then abundantly clear the scope and importance of the fact that Architecture is a Social Art.


List of Essays

Paul Broches: A Gentle Push Toward Design for Everyone

Benjamin Clavan: Creating Architectural Monuments

Charles Debbas: Zimbabwe Childcare Centers:  A Collaboration between the International Child Resource Institute and Debbas Architecture

Tom Fisher: Public-Interest Architecture: A Needed and Inevitable Change

Lance Hosey: The role of the street in fostering social life

Raymond Lifchez: A Digital Archive of the Architecture of Charity

Michael Pyatok: Personal Choices, Social Purpose

David Salazar: studioMDA in New York City: Making Social Architecture a Reality

Statements Regarding the 2004 Berkeley Prize Question