Gallery Talks
Opening Reception for DESIGN-A-THON: Experiments in Participatory Television
The clock strikes 5 PM. It’s been a long day at work, and all you want to do is eat dinner, park yourself in the La-Z-Boy, turn on the television, and watch your favorite program. But the year is 1979, and you live in Roanoke, Virginia. The local news has a special segment on Channel 7 called Roanoke Design ’79, a program that asks citizens what they think about redesigning their downtown.
You see architects sketching fantastical visions of a new Roanoke, a city where every building feels familiar because you grew up here. You even spot your city manager and your neighbor on TV, discussing proposals with two architects named Charles Moore and Chad Floyd.
The program continues, and they start talking about the library in Elmwood Park. Your ears perk up. You want to make sure they know how important the library is to you and your community. You pick up the phone, and Chad answers. He instructs Moore to sketch your idea and says to stay tuned to see the results. Your voice is heard.
Moore Grover Harper, a Connecticut-based firm, hosted a series of televised “Design-a-Thons” in the late 1970s to engage communities and test an innovative form of public participation that used television as a tool for urban planning. This approach could reach anyone from the comfort of their living room after work hours, with just a flick of a finger, an open mind, and an opinion.
Dayton Riverdesign (Ohio, 1977), Roanoke Design ’79 (Virginia, 1979), Riverdesign Springfield (Massachusetts, 1979), and Watkins Glen Tomorrow (New York, 1980) were part of a remarkable experiment teaming up architects, local newscasters, and the public to reimagine and revitalize their towns.
Through massing models, sketches, phone calls, mapping, and role playing, citizens’ direct input shaped a shared sense of place, transforming television from one way passive media consumption into an interactive, two way medium for public participation.
