Common Lab: design-based research through cultural appropriation practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5821/jida.2025.13673Keywords:
situated architecture, counterculture, cultural appropriation, design-based research, common labAbstract
Common Lab is developed within the final-year cycle of the Architecture School at Universidad UNIACC (Chile), conceived as a collective process of design research. The experience addresses architectures of cultural appropriation that emerged in Santiago during the 1980s, amid censorship and exclusion. Through a research by design approach, the methodology combines archiving, hypothesis formulation and speculative design, alongside project development and social integration. The framework draws on situated knowledges (Haraway), performance epistemology (Taylor), and Atelier Bow-Wow’s ideas of Behaviorology and Commonalities, enabling subaltern practices to be recognized as producers of architectural knowledge. Outcomes show that projects can act as situated research, fostering learning beyond formal design toward interpreting conflicts and cultural mediation. The model has built a shared archive, shown transferability, and stimulated debate on graduation as a collective process of knowledge production.
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