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The term
charrette was coined over a hundred years ago at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in
Paris. Students enrolled in the School of Architecture were expected to meet
strict deadlines for the completion of design projects. When the deadline
arrived, a small cart (in French a “charrette”) trundled down the aisle of the
studio. Students had to toss their drawings onto the cart whatever their state
of completion, for the failure to do so was to get a zero for the project.
Much of this spirit of intensity is retained in our more
modern and collaborative use of design charrettes. One would define the
charrettes used today as a time-limited event in which a diverse group of
experts and laymen strive to produce a mutually agreeable answer to a complex
community design problem.
Citizens, planners and design professionals have recently
come to regard design charrettes as an exceptionally effective tool for creating
more suitable and integrated projects.
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