Katoomba Charrette – Chapter 3: ‘Charrette’ as a Project Methodology
Charrette Origins: ‘Charrette‘ is derived from the French phrase for ‘little cart’, as in incremental additions to a ‘cart’ of project work.
The project concept was first applied from the mid-1800s to the 1930s to students at the École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris, who were instructed to produce their works weekly. Proctors circulated a cart, or “charrette”, to collect final drawings while students frantically put finishing touches on their work which was then presented to the whole school.
Back then, if a student’s concept artwork was approved, the student was granted the rest of the year to work out the details of his/her own design.
