Other People’s Dreams engages in a critical and durational way with community organisations in the north west of England, exploring modes of participation with marginalised groups, situations and ideas. Modelmaking is used to explore that which is often 'unseen’ in the field of design and architecture; everyday life as experienced by everyday people, through an ethnographic, situated, participatory and co-produced way of working. Whether created with the help of machines such as the laser cutter or the waterjet, or made by hand, on site, from recycled materials, the model is used as a device through which to document, analyse and actively engage with people and place; it is not just a tool that allows people to participate in a design project; it is also a tool that allows us to participate in the life of that place. The models are always either made with participants, or designed in such a way as to allow the people we work with to interact with them use them to test ideas. For OPD, modelmaking is a useful methodology for a symbiotic mode of participation whereby we are as much a participant in the context that we are exploring as the community we are engaging with.
