by Hilary Hughes, July 2021

• What is a charrette?
• How to do a charrette: step-by-step guide

It also offers some downloadable resources from my own practice to support school librarians in leading a charrette (Editor's Note: please visit https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/resources/charrette/ to access the downloadables).

What is a charrette?

A charrette supports participatory designing. It is a collaborative design process or workshop that is commonly used in community and urban planning projects and architecture and design education. It also works well in participatory school-based design projects, including school libraries.

Ideally, a charrette occurs early in the design process to inform the work of architects and professional designers. A charrette gives everyday stakeholders an opportunity to share their needs, aspirations and creative ideas in the design of the new space. So a library charrette may involve current and potential users—e.g. students, teachers, library staff, school leaders, parents and the wider community. For architects and designers, the charrette outcomes can help translate the school's educational and wellbeing goals into user-friendly library spaces that support these goals and innovative learning approaches.

The term "charrette" is derived from the French word for "little cart." In the design field, its use derives from Paris during the 19th century when assistants at the École des Beaux-Arts school of architecture pulled little carts round the streets to collect students' assignments. These were in the form of drawings on large wooden boards. As the story goes, students who were running late would jump on the cart to put finishing touches on their assignment.

In an education context, I find that the charrette is a powerful learning and teaching approach with both adults and school students. For example, in my MEd unit, Designing Spaces for Learning (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/126920/), teachers in various school settings, including libraries, used a charrette as part of their design project assignments. You can see some samples of their work—and their own students' designs—on the projects page (https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/samples/) and in my articles (Hughes, 2017a; Hughes, 2017b).

A charrette can take various forms. I loosely model my approach on a series of charrettes that informed a major 'revisioning' project at Auraria Library, University of Colorado Denver, USA (Howard and Somerville, 2014). These charrettes followed the three-step process [of evaluation, consensus buliding, and redesigning] and involved the active participation of library architects.

How to Do a Charrette: Step-by-Step Guide

Below is a six-step guide to running a library design charrette that includes: Preparation, Introduction, Evaluation, Imagination, Creation and Presentation. The introductory presentation and templates can be downloaded and copied or modified for re-use (Editor's Note: please visit https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/resources/charrette/ to access the downloadables).

STEP 1: CHARRETTE PREPARATION

Planning a charrette

In planning a charrette, allow plenty of time for discussion and creative activity—at least five hours spread over one full day or two half days—with the same participants involved in all stages of the process. If possible, invite a range of library users and non-users including students, teachers, school leaders, library staff, parents and interested community members. I have found that the ideal number of participants is between 15 and 30, split into groups of 5 or 4.

Facilitator

A charrette needs an experienced facilitator to enthuse and support participants and guide the process. To ensure that the charrette keeps an authentic school focus, it is generally preferable for the facilitator to be a member of the school community rather than a professional designer. The facilitator can be from any discipline as long as they have a well-informed understanding of the wider school library context and the charrette process. It could be strategically advantageous to have a library team member as facilitator.

Architects & design professionals

There are pros and cons to including architects and professional designers in a library charrette. Those who favour participatory designing can provide useful expert advice to guide everyday designers' thinking without overly dominating the charrette process. Many appreciate the opportunity for working with charrette participants to develop a deeper understanding of library users' needs and wishes, and the school's goals and learning and teaching practices. On the other hand, the presence of 'design experts' may intimidate general participation or sway the charrette's design outcomes.

Materials to provide for a charrette

• Charrette templates and/or guidelines
• Coloured pens, pencils, chalks
• Paper for notes, large sheets of clean paper for final designs
• Sticky notes
• Glue, sticky tape, scissors
• Assorted scrap items (e.g. coloured paper & card, bottle tops, cardboard rolls, boxes, textile off-cuts, string, ribbon, magazines, greeting cards)
• Natural items (e.g. leaves, twigs, shells, small stones)
• Optional: cheap craft items (e.g. paddle pop sticks, felt squares, pipe cleaners, beads, wool, modelling clay)

STEP 2: INTRODUCE CHARRETTE TO PARTICIPANTS

Setting the scene

Like any workshop, the facilitator sets the scene with a brief introduction to the charette. Points to cover include:

• Welcome and introductions. Maybe a quick ice-breaker activity.
• Clarify to participants which library space(s) to focus on (e.g. the whole library or particular area(s) within it).
• Outline the purpose of the charrette and how it will run.
• Encourage participants to be imaginative in their thinking and unconstrained by current layout and practices. Emphasise that all ideas, big and small, will be welcome.
• Thank participants for their valued participation. Advise them that while their ideas will be considered seriously it may not be possible to implement them all in the final design.
• Depending on time available and the participant group, maybe give a short presentation about participatory designing.

Opening discussion

A quick reflective exercise or discussion helps get everyone into a designerly mood. Here's an example:

STEP 3: EVALUATION OF THE LIBRARY SPACE(S)

This step involves evaluating the current library space(s). Encourage participants to consider:

• What do you like about it? What works well?
• What needs changing?
• Why?

To help focus their thinking, participants could take a reflective walk through the library responding individually to the VAST heuristic (self-guiding questionnaire). VAST is an acronym that prompts individuals to reflect on particular aspects of the library space and how it affects learning and wellbeing of users.

VAST acronym

V = Values
Ask yourself who (users) and what (things) are valued—or not valued—in the library space(s)

A = Activities
Observe what activities the library space(s) enable or hinder

S = Site
Consider the physical location and structure of the library, e.g. the surrounding environment, the library's physical relationship to the school's other buildings and facilities, its size and external appearance, access ways, and ease of entry for diverse users (universal design)

T = Technology
Review the library's interior design and practical aspects, e.g. WiFi, electrical, lighting, heating and ventilation, layout, colour, fittings and furnishings, comfort, aesthetics (visual appeal), views outside and internal lines of sight, mobility and flow of diverse users, inclusive social and cultural representation, directional signage (universal design)

VAST heuristic (self-guiding questionnaire)

In this library space …

[Note: This version of the VAST heuristic is based on Dr. Raylee Elliott Burns's (2011) adaptation of Dr. Tom Heath's (1989) original work. For further information, please see the Acknowledgement below.]

After completing the VAST evaluation, participants come together in small groups to compare their findings and establish points of consensus about positive and negative features of the library—what aspects to keep and/or what to change. This provides a foundation for each group to identify an overarching design problem that will guide their library (re)designing. For example, the cluttered and tired appearance of the library discourages students and inhibits collaborative learning.

STEP 4: IMAGINATION

Having identified the library's spatial problem(s) participants can begin the creative design process by imagining a fresh, innovative design. One way to do this is by brainstorming ideas and then synthesing them into a set of design goals. The following checklist suggests key aspects to consider and the template with spaces to add notes can be downloaded.

Designing ideas checklist

Where

• Location of library on school site
• Connections to natural environment
• Connections with other school buildings
• Digital connections
• Access and flow

Who

• Library users
• School and wider community
• Social and cultural diversity

Learning & wellbeing

• School mission, values, goals
• Curriculum and pedagogy
• Pastoral care
• Social, cultural, physical and educational inclusion
• Social interaction
• Privacy, quiet retreat

Function

• Activities: Inquiry, study, reading, making
• Performance and display
• Physical and digital resources
• Technology: Power, WiFi, equipment and devices
• Help/support services

Look & feel

• Atmosphere/Environment
• Layout
• Lighting, ventilation
• Colour
• Furniture and fittings
• Acoustics

Innovation

• Original/Fun/Playful features

Identity

• Theme/Distinctive name for library space(s)

STEP 5: CREATION

With design goals established each group collaboratively develops a visual representation of their library space design. They can do this by drawing, making a collage or a 3D model using the craft and scrap materials provided.

Designing guidelines
Here are some suggested guidelines for creating the visual representation.

Think of this as a conceptual design, not 'perfect' artwork:

• It is for IDEAL learning space; let your imagination flow
• Include special/innovative/creative/fun features

Keep in mind:

• Library purpose and identity and student sense of belonging
• School Mission and Aim
• Curriculum and pedagogy to be enacted here
• School community; diversity and inclusion

Design for sustainability:

• Flexible spaces for ongoing/future development
• Connections between built and natural environment

Allow for practicalities:

• Accessibility and flow of people
• Climate
• Light and shade
• Acoustics
• Technology

Name the space:

• To reflect its identity and purpose

Outcome—one drawing, collage or model per group:

• Preliminary drafts are fine
• Rough final presentation is fine
• No rulers and detailed measurements; does not have to be to scale
• Clear and colourful
• Annotations or captions to point out/explain main design features

STEP 6: PRESENTATION

The charrette concludes with presentation and celebration of the library space designs. For example:

• Team members explain the intended purpose or use of the space(s); point out key design features—the 'selling points'; and propose a name for their newly designed space(s).
• Facilitator takes photos or video of each design.
• Participants provide constructive feedback on each team's design and identify particular ideas for possible adoption or further development.
• The whole group may select one or more 'favourite designs' to carry forward.
• After the charrette the facilitator and/or participants can share their conceptual designs with school decision-makers, architects and designers to inform the creation of user-friendly fit-for-contemporary-purpose school library spaces.

Charrette Information

For more information about the charrette process

See the School Library Design Resources and Research pages (https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/resources/) and this overview of Participatory Design (https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/research/).

Acknowledgment – VAST heuristic

The VAST heuristic presented here reflects the scholarship of Dr Tom Heath (Architecture) and Dr Raylee Elliott Burns (Education).

Drawing on the work of John Zeisel (1984), Heath (1989) theorised VAST as: 'people have Values, in relation to aspects [Activities] of buildings [Site/System] which must be expressed in built form [Technology]'. The VAST elements scaffold the exploration of systems of human relationships and human activity in association with the surrounding systems which support human activity within built spaces. Heath viewed designing as a 'specialised kind of problem solving' that involves strategic and tactical approaches. So he encouraged designers to apply the VAST heuristic critically and with a certain amount of 'free floating anxiety' (Heath 1989:17).

Elliott Burns adapted and applied VAST in ways that relate Heath's thinking to an Education context and the designing of learning spaces including libraries. In her doctoral thesis, she explained:

I have advocated the potential of the VAST heuristic as an example of ways to enter users' worlds of values, attitudes and customs as a foundation for the designing of spaces and places for learning. In this respect, Tom Heath's work gave impetus to a further strength of the study in the opportunity to foreground the voices of experience of those most closely associated with the use and the designing of school libraries, the educators, students, designers / architects and education facility planners (Elliott Burns 2011, p.249).

While formatting the VAST elements as a self-questioning guide, Elliott Burns introduced the interrogative frame of the critical theorist's question: who and what is valued here? (Popkewitz & Fendler, 1999). In this way the VAST heuristic prompts exploration of other questions concerned with influential participant relationships and activity: Who designs these spaces and what agendas are fulfilled through designer roles? How are learners imagined in the design process? How are participants influenced in the design process? How do design elements work to prohibit, permit, locate and order the ways in which learners and teachers are positioned and the ways in which learning takes place?

References

Elliott Burns, R.A. (2011) Voices of experience : Opportunities to influence creatively the designing of school libraries. [Doctoral thesis]. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/48974/.

Heath, T. (1989). What do designers do? [Unpublished manuscript]. Brisbane: QUT.

Popkewitz, T. & Fendler, L. (1999). Changing terrains of knowledge and politics. New York: Routledge.

Vere, A. (2013). Charrette. Limerick #79555. OEDILF.com.

Zeisel, J. (1984). Inquiry by design: Tools for environment-behaviour research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This article is republished with permission from School Library Designing. Visit the original post for downloadables and illustrations at https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/resources/charrette/.

Recommended citation: Hughes, H. (2019). Practical charrette guide. School Library Designing. https://hilaryemh.wordpress.com/resources/charrette/.