Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities (Sustainable Design Solutions from the Pacific Northwest)

Living and working indoors has become increasingly difficult in past years even for the relatively prosperous middle-class American. For those living in squatters' camps in Mexico, as migrant laborers, or on reservations the need for decent spaces has become acute. The faculty and students of the University of Washington's BASIC initiative have supplied the means of designing projects to meet the need for community centers, libraries, and housing at the local, national and international levels, studying cultures, working with those who will use the facilities, and getting good practice in building in sustainability. The results are structures and sites that are both culturally and environmentally sensitive, accessible, and very fit for use. The authors include an annotated list of projects. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sergio Palleroni was a professor at the University of Washington for 12 years and the founder of the UW Basic Initiative, a multidisciplinary fieldwork program which each year challenges students to apply their education at the University of Washington in service of the problems facing marginalized communities throughout the world. He has worked on housing and community development in the developing world since the 1970's both for not-for-profit agencies and governmental and international agencies such as UNESCO, World Bank. In the last two decades he has applied this experience to establishing programs in housing and development at the University of Texas Austin and Penn State University as well as the University of Washington.