IaaC Blog

Wikitecture is an open source platform that by keeping up with the idea of the Open Architecture Network, involves as many people as possible throughout the world in the process of architectural design.

The place where this exchange of ideas and creativity is happening is the internet. Through the ‘Wikitecture Tree’ (inworld and web-based community participation and communication), Wikitecture uses Second Life as its basic platform, where users can log in, become members (see instructions), and upload their projects, change other projects and take part in an open source procedure. In other words, this open source platform, uses the platform of Second Life, in order to open the access to as many people as possible to contribute with their ideas and design concepts.

Throughout this time, Wikitecture has mostly focused on competition entries, where all users of the platform have the ability to give 3 positive and 3 negative votes to all the other projects, as well as upload their own. This voting system enables the final proposal for the competition to emerge, as a result of collaboration and democratic procedures.

The fact that a contest is turned into an open source procedure seemed quite interesting to me. But mostly the use of contemporary means, as well as the whole idea of Second Life is what attracted me the most about Wikitecture. Firstly, because architecture can be anything, from a built project on a site, to a project on a web-site, and secondly because contemporary means, such as the Internet, give designers the ability to be more flexible and, thus, more creative. It is also interesting that on the website, the administrators mention that they expect just ideas from the members of this platform, no full proposals, but ideas that can be reformed and reshaped by others. That is what open source is all about.

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