Architecture Design Studio: The Urban Laboratory

The Urban Lab studio at Carnegie Mellon seeks to educate architects to be leaders for vision-based change at the scales of neighborhood, city and region. It is intended to both introduce students to urban design and inform their understanding of building design in relation to existing neighborhoods. Our approach to urban design engages the city as an integrated design problem that is best solved through a participatory design process. Each year, teams of students and faculty seek to catalyze the revitalization of Pittsburgh urban neighborhoods by working with Mayors and elected officials, public agencies, private investors, and citizens of communities to collectively envision physical change within their neighborhoods and communities. Without being direct providers of technical assistance for communities, the Urban Laboratory has used the educational qualities of the urban design studio to build long-term university-community partnerships and ultimately build the capacities of communities to be their own drivers of change. Equally important to introducing the participatory process in urban design, the Urban Lab also emphasizes the importance of collaborative, multi-disciplinary design and decision-making. Students expand architectural design skills and gain new skills in urban design, planning and community leadership. In short, the Urban Lab represents the culmination of the architectural educational experience, by expanding existing skill sets, dramatically increasing the scale of intervention, and introducing a real client: the community.