I  posted on Radar about Wikitecture -- a new collaborative form of architecture that uses wiki principles of shared contribution, editing and decision-making within the virtual world of Second Life (disclaimer, my friend Jon Brouchoud is the brain child along with Ryan Schulz).

Recently Studio Wikitecture won Architecture for Humanity’s Founders Award for their submission; a health facility in Nepal. There were over 500 entrants to the contest. Many of Studio Wikitecture’s contributors (roughly 40) were not architects but each brought specific, local knowledge that benefitted the project.

I want to summarize some of the insights from looking at how Wikitecture works -- and then follow with some great video from the project.

Many businesses are wrestling with the notion of “collaboration” and its possible benefits.   Wikitecture reinforces some important points:

• Nothing is off limits: Collaboration can successfully occur in the production of almost anything (if architects can do it anyone can…).  In this case over 40 people came together to design a public health facility in Nepal.  This was a complex project that needed to consider a whole variety of factors (aesthetic, cultural, material).
• Diversity adds value: The more people from differing backgrounds the better the information pool to draw from.  Many contributors were not architects but people who had been to this particular region in Nepal.  That drove specific insights that might have been unavailable to the average sized architecture firm doing research.  This included building material suggestions (example: adobe and gabion wall construction was suggested as among the most viable design material given the exact -and remote- location and the ability to utilize local labor. Other materials would not only cost more but could even be prohibitive in terms of shipping into the area) and the impact of culture on design (example: In Nepal an odd number of steps is considered inauspicious so all stair plans were designed for even numbers.)
• Structure drives behavior: Collaboration benefits from a clear structure to facilitate results.  The wiki tree works in much the same way that Wikipedia does in setting specific rules up front that drive a successful outcome and allow many people to contribute harmoniously.   These “nudges” move decision-making and consensus in a positive direction.
• Organizing beyond the workplace: While Jon is a professional architect and earns his living that way, many of the participants are not (and have no desire to be) professional architects.  They added their talent and insight for motivations other than money.  Businesses that learn how to engage talent beyond their workplace in the same ways that Jon has will have an inherent advantage.

Here is a demo of the “Wiki Tree”

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