COMMUNITY / The Power of a Narrative

By Drew Graff

Throughout architectural education and professional practice, design excellence is often associated with visibility, scale, and prestige. Architectural media frequently celebrates firms responsible for iconic buildings, billion-dollar developments, and highly recognizable cultural institutions. While these projects undoubtedly require exceptional skill and commitment to their clients, they can also create a narrow understanding of what constitutes meaningful architectural work. Too often, the profession rewards projects that symbolize privilege while giving less attention to projects that directly influence the everyday experiences of vulnerable communities.

Our research is grounded in the belief that a shift is occurring within the profession, one that increasingly questions traditional definitions of design excellence and stewardship. This perspective is reflected by the American Institute of Architects’ selection of Duvall Decker as the 2026 Firm of the Year. Such developments raise an important question: what is the true responsibility of architects? Is architecture primarily about aesthetics, or is it a discipline fundamentally concerned with people and their lived experiences? We at SLATTERY work from the belief that architecture can be both. Design quality and social responsibility need not exist in opposition to one another, but instead, work together. The most impactful architecture emerges when design excellence is used in service of individuals, organizations, and communities whose stories are rarely centered within broader architectural discourse.

Central to this new research initiative is an interest in narratives. Narratives are more than simply a story. They are the collection of experiences, relationships, memories, values, and aspirations which function as a form of qualitative knowledge revealing dimensions of human experience that cannot be measured through quantitative methods alone. Narratives communicate what people value, what they fear losing, what they hope to achieve, and how they understand themselves within a larger community. At the same time, narratives are rarely singular. Different stakeholders often bring competing experiences and priorities to the design process. A client organization may have one set of goals, staff members another, and the community served by that organization yet another. Determining whose narrative ultimately influences design decisions is therefore a complex challenge. Rather than seeking a singular perspective, effective design requires architects to identify the relationships between these narratives and understand how they intersect, conflict, and reinforce one another. It also requires us to realize that the analysis of such narratives can be multi-coded as well. If we think about this defiantly, a singular narrative element, when dissected through different lens and when analyzed through similar or different lens can create an almost infinite amount of potential design implications.

When architects use the power of narratives to support design thinking, the range of possible ideas can become almost limitless. A single narrative element can be interpreted through multiple lenses, translated into different spatial responses, and used to justify many competing design directions. This possibility is part of what makes narrative analysis valuable, but it can also become a trap. Designers may begin to believe they have mastered the process of interpreting narratives and therefore assume that any idea reached through that process must be correct. At the same time, the most meaningful design response may remain difficult to identify precisely because it exists within such a wide field of possible interpretations. For this reason, narratives should never become something designers hide behind to rationalize a preferred design choice. Instead, each decision must be tested critically: if the narrative element were removed, would the design choice still be impactful, responsible, and meaningful? Or is it simply a familiar option, an easy translation, or something we wanted to do anyway? This level of self-critique is essential if narrative-driven design is to move beyond justification and become a truly thoughtful method of practice.

This emphasis on listening raises another question guiding SLATTERY’s current research: how do designers know when they have truly listened and thought critically about narrative elements? Listening cannot simply be measured by the number of meetings attended or interviews conducted. Instead, it becomes evident through the translation of ideas into design outcomes. A client who sees their values reflected in a project is more likely to feel heard. Likewise, when core concepts remain consistent throughout a project’s development and continue to resonate with stakeholders, they demonstrate a successful connection between engagement and design.

And yet, listening extends beyond the production of physical spaces. It also manifests through relationships and participation. Stakeholders who remain engaged throughout the design process often indicate a sense of ownership and investment. Listening therefore becomes an ongoing dialogue rather than a singular event. Furthermore, a project can successfully address functional requirements while still failing to listen. A building may perform efficiently and satisfy technical objectives while overlooking cultural identities, emotional needs, or community aspirations. In such cases, architecture risks becoming technically competent but socially disconnected. Below is example to narrative coding that we believe articulates the ‘art of listening.’ It seeks to answer, “how does a narrative become architecture?” Or in the specific case below, the importance of intimate design choices, such as a wall texture.

One of the most significant goals of this research is to better understand the role of qualitative knowledge within architectural practice. Architecture frequently privileges quantitative forms of information because they are measurable and easily communicated. Occupancy counts, circulation requirements, budgets, and building performance metrics all play essential roles in the design process. However, these forms of knowledge tell only part of the story.

Qualitative knowledge offers insights that quantitative data alone cannot provide. Feelings of belonging, dignity, cultural identity, comfort, and empowerment cannot easily be reduced to numerical values. Community aspirations, personal memories, and lived experiences all influence how people interact with space. Ignoring these forms of knowledge creates the risk of designing environments that function correctly yet fail to connect with the people they serve. The challenge for architects is determining how subjective information should be evaluated and incorporated into design decisions. Unlike quantitative data, qualitative information often contains ambiguity and contradiction. However, this complexity should not diminish its value. Instead, architects must develop methods for recording, interpreting, and synthesizing narratives in ways that preserve their richness while allowing them to inform actionable design strategies. We think a process of 1) tracking specific coded narrative elements in relationship to their 2) specific data points in terms of the analytical lens chosen with an 3) internal critique of said analysis can 4) produce meaningful ideas with trackable outcomes.

Ultimately, this investigation leads to the concept of empowerment. SLATTERY’s research is increasingly focused on architecture’s ability to contribute to individual and collective empowerment and our role as stewards. An empowered community is one in which people feel a sense of dignity, agency, ownership, representation, accessibility, and belonging. Architecture contributes to empowerment when people recognize themselves within a space and feel that they belong there. This can occur through large-scale decisions involving accessibility, visibility, and community engagement, but it can also emerge through smaller moments. A welcoming entrance, a comfortable gathering space, access to natural light, or a thoughtful detail can create meaningful experiences that communicate care and respect. These moments may seem minor individually, yet collectively they shape how people understand their relationship with a place.

The primary goal of this project-specific research is to better understand the relationship between narrative and design. Specifically, the research focuses on two questions: How do architects listen, and how can that process be meaningfully described? Additionally, how does the collection and interpretation of qualitative information influence the understanding of architectural work and its impact on clients and communities? Through exploring these questions, SLATTERY seeks to develop a stronger understanding of engagement practices, narrative collection, and the translation of community and client knowledge into architectural responses. It also examines how architects move from stories and conversations to drawings, materials, and built environments, with particular attention given to identifying whether there are common qualities that consistently contribute to feelings of empowerment within sensitive and underserved communities.

We are excited to see what we can learn during this process and to keep you updates on our work in the coming months.