Review

"...In this wonderful and unique book Christopher Day sets out to explain the process of Consensus Design, which is used to explore the resonance of a place and show how this can be reflected in built form. As Michelangelo set out to discover what lay beneath the surface of a piece of marble, so Christopher Day helps the inhabitants of a place to discover what 'wants' to be built by 'listening' to the place in which they live.

This gentle response to building, through the distillation of ideas, may lead us closer to the secrets of how past generations managed to build places that touch our hearts and strike a chord in our souls."

- His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, U.K.

From the Foreword

"In this well written and profusely illustrated paperback, Christopher Day describes his Consensus Design process, setting out how to explore the resonance of a place and showing how this can be reflected in built form...

For designers involved in community projects, who are open-minded enough and brave enough to try an alternative to conventional top down design processes, this book is recommended as it will provide a practical guidance every step of the way to what should be a successful, inclusive design."

- Building Engineer

"The book reads as an instruction manual, complete with ideograms sketched by the author throughout the text."

- Journal of Architectural Education, November 2004

Product Description

Consensus Design offers a practical step by step guide to co-design; an increasingly important consideration for architects as they compete for work.

The text moves from identifying the methodology of the process to developing a series of principles and practical steps which illustrate how consensus design can be established.

For easy reference, flow charts show the process of achieving consensus design and include variations for different types of project and different groups of people. It gives clear timings so that agreements can be reached within a specific time frame, and also features a number of case studies to illustrate consensus design principles in practice. Case studies include projects in the UK, US, and Sweden.

Consensus design isn't just a utopian ideal. It's the only meaningful way in which people can be involved in shaping where they live and work. It can have an influence on social stability, crime-reduction, personal health and building longevity, all of which in turn have monetary and environmental cost implications. Its consideration can also greatly help architects win work and commissions.

Day argues that when places are designed by professionals for people, many things obvious to the residents are overlooked. When they are designed by lay people, the design can suffer from the lowest common denominator factor. When places are designed by both it tends to end up in conflict. However, Consensus Design shows that co-design is not doomed to either conflict or banality if it is managed correctly.

* An accessible guide that offers practical advice for implementing consensus design

* Learn how to carry out 'inclusive design' and gain the edge over the competition when bidding for work

* Illustrations of an international range of case studies demonstrate how consensus projects evolve in practice