Shifting landscapes: Blurring discipline boundaries through community-engaged, mixed-discipline studios

Abstract

Using a cross-discipline, vertical studio approach to community engagement, faculty from multiple colleges and design programs facilitate a weeklong charrette to solve problems in the local community at a land-grant university. After the charrette process, a senior-level landscape architecture studio and a sophomore-level interior design studio extended the investigation from different viewpoints for the duration of the semester. To gain a better understanding of outcomes from the charrette process as well as the extended studio work, faculty collected perceptions from students and community partners at different times throughout the semester and after its completion. This article explores tangible and intangible results that community-engaged, mixed-discipline studio projects have on students and community partners. We found struggles and benefits for students in broadening their discipline lens with sustained learning outcomes and the foundation for systems thinking, as well as an invested community partner that valued their contributions as moderators with the general public.