Fourteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Building upon their disparate experiences, workshop leaders Hansel Bauman, architect, co-founder, DeafSpace Project; and Lauren Zulli, embodiment coach and meditation instructor explore the somatic affinities of mindful practices, and the human impulse to dwell. Drawing upon recent discoveries in the neurosciences Bauman and Zulli propose collective experiences converging on the imagination and construction of place as a powerful means for building empathy and soothing trauma at both a personal and societal level. Twenty-first century challenges of climate change, socio-economic disparity and migration; eroding socio-political cohesion and increasing rates of depression and suicide share a common root cause in the disembodied, compartmentalized state of modernity. Responses to rising environmental and socio-political disruptions have largely focused on ad hoc, technical solutions for resiliency. Social programs, hardened infrastructures and closed boarders overlook and perpetuate disconnection between one’s mind-body-sprit, others and the ecosystems we inhabit—leaving humankind completely unprepared emotionally for the challenges now upon us. Through speculative grass-roots projects Bauman and Zulli explore ways in which the construction of resilient places can serve as an effective means for building the personal, spiritual, and emotional resilience, social cohesion, and empathy needed to thrive in the face of twenty-first century challenges. Through a hands-on, collective exercise of making socio-spatial constructs together, workshop participants are afforded an embodied experience of building community—connecting with one another, the physical world, and self.