The Impetus

I arrived in Port Angeles in awe, the abounding resources and connection to place exist here as if they only could in Port Angeles. This past June 2009, I received a masters degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati. During my studies in Cincinnati I participated in the Niehoff Urban Studio, an interdisciplinary design studio within the University of Cincinnati Community Design Center.

My master's thesis explored slow food and slow architecture in urban environments.The slow food movement has cultivated an ideal of “slowness,” and developed actionable methods that celebrate and protect the local. Based on an analogy with gastronomy, slow architecture will adapt slow food principles to create strategies for extending the current discourse of regionalism.

The resources, networks, and experience of place organize the discussion of slow architecture. Resources link tradition and ritual, through interpreting the particularities of place. Networks link identity, sustenance and pleasure, through dwelling. Experience links making and ingredients through the sensorial experience of the body.

The principles of a “slow architecture” can shape an attitude to designing in urban environments that can preserve identity and culture for communities in transition and can energize the sense of community and shared ownership.

Community design encompasses environment social and economical and what can this mean for Port Angeles? I want to use this blog as a space for engaging the community in design issues, can relate my experiences in community design and solicit a discussion about the potentials and future realities for this international port city. As the impetus for discussion, community design and the purpose for the community of Port Angeles.