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018 INTRODUCTION I hope in a long li5t", Cg~ron Sinclair PERMANENT Humanitarian "'~'E Stohr Design TRANSITIONAL 140 Maas.i Integrated Shelter Project Inlermediate Technology Development Group
146 lucy Hau •• 120,O Hause Rural Studio '50 Hopi Nation Elder Home
Red FE-ather Development Group 15' Bayview Rural Village RBGe Architecture. Research & Urbanisrn INTERVIEW_ aurice D. Cox M Quinta Monroy Housing Project ELEMENTAL HouslOg Initiative [Taller de Ch1le
COM
UNITY
GATHERING SPACES
196 Mason's Bend Chapel Rural Studio 20D Appirampattu Village Center Logan Allen 20' B.refaat College Barefoot AfChlteds
Nader Khalili
1'"
0" Global
Tests
Matt .Jelactc
122 Prefabricated Core. JoIousing I Core- Housing Relief International
Disabled
University,
Workers
Technical Vienna
082 Hexayurt
V,na,. Gupta
Q84
216 Favela-Bairro
Unofficial
SIron9 Angel
Training Exe'reises Slrong Angel 086 Concrete Canvas Peter Brewsn and W Ira-n Crawford
WOMEN
Common Ground
Community 190
DeSign Ccrps
paraSITE
Michael Rakowitz
••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••• •• •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••• ••• • •••••••••• •• •• •• ••• • •• •• • •••• ••• ••••••••••••• •• •••• • ••••••••••••• •••••• •••••••••••••• ••••••• •• • •• ••••••••••••• •••• •• •••• • ••••••• ••• •• ••••••• ••• •••••• ••••• •••• ••••• ••••••••••• ••••• •••••••••• •••• ••••• •••
285
watercone
Stephan Augustin
238
286
244
Medwed Clinic
,MichaL Vital and Yuval Amir
EDUCAfl,ON
25D
287 Long-Lasting Antimalaria Sed Nets Acumen Fund I Sumitomo Chemical Corp.
for Response
306
256
archrrectu re
26D Druk White Lotus Arup Associates 264
SChOD(
~
31 D
-RaflSega ( an d
Eyal WeiLman
Schoots
29' Living
UniverSity of
Washington 296 Ecological Dry ToUet Cesar Anorve 297
Pedagogy
320 Shrinking Shrinking Cities Ci-ies
UnBothroom
William Hsu
Curitiba, Bra,il
331
BIBLIDGRAPHY
We would
and designers
who,
through the power of their creativity, help communities around he world embrace change. This book is dedicated to them
Acknowledgments
Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr
We wish to offer our sincere graciously support, contributed without which to thank the Graham
and heartfelt
thanks
to aillhose we would
who, like
Rebekah Jennifer
Hodgson; Lester;
Timothy
Hursley:
Satu Jackson;
Anne Kellner; Mike Loretice: Steven Meier; Murty: Daniel OToole: Charles
Richard
The Leaf and Bean; Haria Loftus; McCutcheon; Muri, Falcon Deniz Orhun: Dave Schiff; • and all the
for their
Kevin Lippert;
We apologize for any errors we may have made, whether errors 01 omission, cornrnission, or, in some cases, conversion of
measurements we apologize or currencies. They were unintentional. to give credit where attributions Likewise, credit is due for each if we have neglected
Robert Neuwirth;
"Superkrcq"
made available to us. We have also made ever; attempt to identiFy accurately tile sources and authors
of all renderings, sketches, and photographs. effort. Many dedicated peopte toward Allison making Arien; it happen Fumihito We would Cynthia This book was truty a collaborative lent their time and talents especially Andrews; Barton; Paola Antonelli; Rick Bauer;
Institute; writers;
Denise Tomasini;
Ando; Peter Bell; Erin Bennett; Bryan Burkhart; Corum; Nevil Ric Grefe; Rick Hill:
State University
School of Architecture;
MetropOliS
Art. Publishers.
Peter Bernstein;
Hudson. and 8eth Orser for working tirelessly under pressure to help us live up to the title of this book ...and many others who contributed in thought, spirit. or deed a broad array of projects deserving from a projects but there are many equally Our aim has been to incorporate wide range 01 regions, more that we we did not have room to include,
Laura Cole; Mary Corneric. Cornwall; Drummer; Frankel; Nathaniel Tom Dutton; Ray Bastil:
Doug Halsey;
Graham
lntroduetlon
On September 14, 2001, the Architecture for Hu ma n ity office phon e ra ng.
I should
vears old that connects aqencies, but where when !heY'needed a .strong cornrnunirv
their profession
could
agencies,and
design services?
actually
desig.n movement,
I answered
designer
City.IA small corner of my cubicle that housed laptop Wi1S our "daytime headquarters."}: happened to be working on the relocation of Lehman Brothers after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center just a few days before. My colleague's and r were going flat out to help our corporate clients get back on their feet; many 01 us had watched the towers come down and were committed to dOing anything we could. The woman on the phone said she was calling on behati of' the United Nations High Commissioner lor Refugees (UNHCRI.
my personal She informed me that Architecture for Humanity was on a list of orgacr18tions that might be able to help with ref~g.e housing issues if America decided to launch a counterattack against suspected terrorist cells in AFghanistan, r laughed nervuusly and replied, "1 nope it's a long list" Incredibly, the answer was a brief and somber no. It was at that moment I realized that p eop!e. outside the design protess.on ad develDped an interest In our humble underta.king Architecture ior Humanity ls a chartteote organlzation that Kate Stohr, a treetance journalist and documentary producer, and t 'founded in 1999 to seek architectural solutions to humanitarian
r
Gensler'
body engag~d in reconstruction and devetcpment-cfor reesons wed an too soon discover, Architecture for Hu,man1ty began in response to the conflct iii
Kosovc. I had moved from London to New Y~rk and was working at a smell design firm as an associate designer. the fam::y title for a computer-aided designer. better known inside the profession as
a CAD monkey. The firm I worked for was developing international retail stores for American fashion and fragrance firms. After my
twenti.eth project in as many countries. lor I found myself desfgning
lipstick dispensers
highlighted enabling question inicrrret I
weekly
salary Was equal to the cost of a s.ingle tipstck. the ways in which qloba.iaauon designers to work atrnost anywhere was whether discussions
This €_xperience our profession, to rospono During firms in the wortd. The real
I moved to l.auster & Radu Architects. which turned out to be an incredibly supportive environment. They had an international
to communities
in need, Through
focus and had taken on 2 number of socially conscious projects, 1 was extremeLy fortunate to work on the restoration of Constantin
competitions, works ops, educational forums. partnerships with aid orqanizations. and other ectlvlties, we have sought to create opportunities for arcbrtects and desjqnera from around the world to respond to crises. But at he time 0; the World Trade Center attack, we had yet to build a single structure. 50 v/hy would a UN agency r ach out to us? We'd like to think it Wi)S because we had aready become a
voice for humanitarian movement .mtII19?9, for socially dastqn-c an unexpected conscious touchstone The sad truth in the
tu
Archltecture lor HllmanrtyOfficlfl_ (offkeCubl,~e}NewYorR, NY
i,91l9-2002
architecture
Is that
A'iE',age;r~umt!ero~vQIl!j)tl2'€rS_'l
Maximum number-of volunteC'rs_2
crgeruzetrcn
got started
along with"
na:ndful of others, there Vid_S no easily identifiable de.5'igr1'resource 'lor shelter after oisaster, and aid- groups were often lelt scrambling Icrhelp. Engineers had ReaR, an organization now more than 25
I
oev
l.:;Q,n. :SOit' 3
10hour::o
UseaQ'Ie-Wcrkspa-c.e
191r:-~lOL5i'S Sf
tp
raL complex
our approach
SU';:-~::;~E''''l
on a number of projects for unions, including "" '\eaUn r.::!l1ty for qarment workers. of the Union of Needletrades. ~s"",Land Textile Employees [UNITE). Fa, the first time in my
~ .Illl caree I also found a mentor 'in one. of the partners: Charles "Chuck" _'::.a'ste':r, whose practice as asstnstlcs. of architecture was as. much about ethics
j.~. 5- working
3 -year revitalization-
of working
en a solution
ourselves
to design transitional housing for the returning refugees. the competition, which we planned to host online due to budget problem them (i.e.,
we
had no rnoneyl.
and funds
criteria,
A, aaout this time ~ happened to see a film by Dan Reed called The a.Jey. wh~ch depicted the ethnic Alberian uprising, in Kosovo during :~' [lof 1998, In ,llIages divided along ethnic.lines.Eerbs and ethnic' Albanians were systematically destroying each other's homes. (lve; time. Serb iorces adopted a scorched-earth approach. It became ;:q}:i'aren~ that not ol1ty families but also the history of a people was. b~jng eradicated. Soon after, the international cornrnunity intervened
to end the conHict.
K~50VO;S
camped in refuqee tents In Montenegro and. Albania, We also somehow talked Ra~iGastil into lending us 9allery space to hast the jury· andan exhibttion. At the time Ray was the executive dlrector of
the Van Alen Institute design in the public ill New York, a nonprofit dedicated to irnprovno
realm, What happened next was a blur. One day Chuck and I were talking abcut the lmpendinq housing crisis in Kosovo: a felNweeks later we
with Heather and Bianca Jagger at the Val) Alen tnstltute aboutto launch an international design competition
focused
on the
were sittinq
in front of a room
only two In our
the poster fa, the competition later 'we were sitting entry boards.
nE€.o immediate and highly dispersed temporary housing. When I ~gg.ste.d responding 10 Kosovos potential housing crisis, Chuck
supported the idea and even got involved. I began researching refugee iSSUES, As the United Nations
'l€9dqu;;rrters
Wi)S
this
More than 220 design teams frorn 30 countries respond-ed to our call for entries. Their schemes ranged Irom the pragmatic to tile provocative. Designers proposed structures made fram everything trom rubble to inflatable- hemp [see "Rubble House" and "Low-Tech
Balloon negative a package Aweek Syste n"], Unfortunately, response. the competition also provoked a During the entry period we received a number One in particular mentioned tha: we might rec(2ive eno that opening. it might cause the H suggested to
Ied to an invitation
AAE'"...lt was that easy! At the rneetinq . Chuck and I were surprised by the UNCHR representatives' positive response. However, they aored that the UNHCR only dealt with reluge.s sovereiqn countries, and not people whe were, or' reternlnq lccated
of death threats.
lnta-nally
from Yugoslavia
to damaged Dr- destroyed homes. They suggested we contact '2 number of ncnqovernrnentet organizations (NGOsl that 'liefe already working on the Kosovo bor-der and would probably be responding inside the province-once the conilict ended. l started
""king C2t1S and eventually Wo, Cnild USA. She connected \"lea as refugees us with a spoke with Heather Harding LaGarde of
Kalarlrla
dear :h2t what was needed was not temporary shelter but some sort of medium-term or traositlcnat structure that returninq Kosovars could ~ive in while they rebuilt their homes. These conversations left us with a c:earer understanding of the needs of those on the ground-and a sense ihat we vsere 0\11 of our depth. A pllone call with Bob Ivy, the editor-in-chief of Architectural !record, brought this point home. Bob, playing devll's advocate queshone·d whether One deslqn te e m (based fn New Yc:rk with UUle
living in some of the camps. eroerience in refugee resettlementl could actually make a difference. Mayee one design team couldnt make a diflerence. I thought, but " ~'ifl1l!ndreds of architects and deSigners got involved"
Zoran Inside was a tetter statinq, "It is not us but our leaders who are doing this, We are not at war with these people, we want to help." We later learned that the team was working on the. project at night and volunteering during the clay for Otpur, the student-teo organization that would later playa key rote in
overthrowing had crossed the Serb president geographical Slobodan Milosevic. political The competition ones, too. boundsries=-and
mentions to be highLighted in the exnibiticn. Aft€r a successful run at the Van Men, the show traveled to London and Paris; three of the
entries were selected for the 2000 Venice Bienre!e the exhibition, .
$7QO to host. But by charging a small entry fee. we reised more tllan $5',000. Interest qe-iaratad by the exhibition and an appeal in the UK's Guardian newspaper helped raise another $100,000· Buoyed by the
T~€ project, including cost us less than
feasible
designs of housing
a number
would be our first confrontation with the brutal realities providing i tsrnanonat aid, In order to g@t building materials
customs, govern secure a site. get work permits, and facilitate
of through
other aspects
of a . ousi 9 program.
ent. However,
we needed
the Interim
aid frcm the international community, wanted 20,000 homes or none at all. We could build fewer than a dozen War Child negotiated with locaL officials to no avail; the p-ojoct ground 10 a batt. Short of building the structures in Albani2 and smuggling them across the border by helicopter-a pcesiblity we brlefty considered-we could
lind no way to get the shelters to those who needed them. In the end War Child used the funds to provide refugees and later to rebuild a lot during schools We learned immediate aid to the
retumiriq
we
and medical
facilities
the project,
realized that I wasn't the only disillusioned CAD monkey and that architects and designers realty did want to make a difference. Second, it became clear that creating partnerships was essential to implementing a project, as ".'as on-the-ground support for negotiating red tape. We needed mote than a great idea to get something built Most irnoortent. we learned that H we wanted to get anything done, wed not only have to raise funds but also retain
control ol them. This is not to say that the designers lnltiative and built
competition
their
projects
functioning
transitional
Arc:hiter::ture for Humanity Transttionat Housing mmpeUtionjury members (left to riqht]: Architect Billie Tsien, Heather Harding LaG",rde of War Child USA, architect Ted WiLliams, Herb sturz of the Open S'ociety Institute, a rchttect Steven HoU and, ln the foreground, Elise Storck of USAm
I
Deborah Gens and Matt .Je lecic were awarded $100,000 from the Johnnie Walker "Keep Walking" Fund to develop their design Iseo "Extreme Housinq]: a prototype by Sean Godselt was exhibited and Shigeru at
Heather
Hardmq
I_;:Ci~nje!W.~r
Druld \!SA
AIDS pandemic.
Though we didn't
Design Museum;
Ban, who
to an earthquake
his native Japan, used the improved design he entered into our to respond to an earthquake in Turkey in 1999 (see
Log Houses"), of the Kosovo competition Kate and l qct married. it out on the and Sieven Ho!! were duking
II was apparent that the lack of a widely distributed was trapping thas.s communities. in poverty, Residents
for example, described how when one familY member was ill, another had to stay behind to look after her. In some instances that meant
,f
L
fn the middle
were not working. In many cases children had to leave school and get a job to put rood all the table, One
with the response frem the West, said, 'We need and families When one sees one's friends
~
~
jury, we were in South Africa. Within three days, however, our honeymoon was over. Suddenly we were sitting outside a 8P gas stauon using the pay phone to orqaniz e interviews and site visits, Kate had started reporting a storv on violence against women in
South Alrica, which at the time vilas nome to the highest I had connected with ~ number incidence
&'
~
<tars at
to
each day, one ~s aware of the problem. We don't need pop giving concert s, we need doctors giving treatment." Kate and I
"eureka
moments"
+insteed
of expecting
Design Ideas
tne next few weeks we darted between settlements. hospitals. rape eos.s centers, and nevI housing projects, Our assumption was that access to clean water and adequate housing would be tr e residents' highest priority: in tact, their bicqe st concern was health care and
12001-31 It would be a couple of years before we would competition. After the bittersweet
launch
-ransiUonal
Housing Competition
to Kescvo
Transit{onat Housing Huimatalah and Llnders en van
Cars,sen
Rene Hellne and Jacques Vink with Linders en' van Dorssen Rotterdam, the Nether-lands Finalist
~~~..::'..:.'"
=~'N,-:-
Plnatist
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';;;.:;=
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Transitiondt Housi~g KeenenlRiley John Keenen, Sleven Chang'r J;;lfl Oreberr, Nathan McRae New York, NY, liSA Hcnorable mention
o:::j:::::J
Be
~Jl
0uIT
'§
'"
~.:
CJ
~ ~
[f1]
I
if
.~
:\:;J
LJ
:8
~ we.
""ea~2ed that before takillg an a new project we first needed lo estebtishe nonprofit entity. MeanwhHe we also needed to earn some
medical
professionals.
and students
from over
erKate nor I received -a salary, we relied on our day lobs- to pay our bills. By now 1was working for Gensler and Kate was 'r e.encinq. (Many people, especietly writers, are amazed to learn ~ at Architecture for Hurnaruty has been partly funded by freelance 10urnabsr:l.) N lther job left much time- for extracurricular' activit.e s Sutl, we managed to enlist the pro bono services of Sieve Meier,
a tswyer wnh An:hitedure lrnost two Morrison and Foerster. 3nd who helped us incorporate
moneY' As neit
50 coururies responded. A total of 531 designs 25 percent more than for the Lower Manhattan Corporation's competruon for the Wortd Trade Here I should point out that the Architecture
was entry new also our one-room, "suite 3A:
0(1
400-square-foot
dubbed
form. So
November
1, 20Q2, all5flO-ptus
leaving us with
for Humanity
years.
apply for 5011c1l3i status. But il took letter from the Internal
building
I read a report by Rodney Harber, a,500th AIClca'196 wrote the tirst AmS brief for architects, how deSign could help those affected. It rekindled our OUTREACH project. and We began researching the Issues mobite health care. Rodney joined the project's advisory we started to enlist the support of dozens of others
who In" af"Jd prevention, a »crnber-
Ray Gasul and the Van Alen Institute came to our rescue again, this time not onLy providing space in which to store the cr-trres. run the jury, and host an exhibition. but also dcnatinq the services 0; the institute's program director. Jcnatt-an Cohen-Litant, who turned out to
be an orqanizationa A couple medical rigorous mobility, of weeks professionals and thorouqh, storage, wunderkioo tater end exhibition rnirecte worker. and issues of For exsrnpte. an Interoatinnat jury 01 architects revolvlnq around
sacuriry,
of whom also JOIned the advisory board. By late 2001, WIth the help of the advisory board and this ~xtended network 01 medica. professionals, we had developed
critarra for creafing d'ign~fled an(] effective and -nainter acceptance, mobile care, indlJd·ing ease of deptoyrnent pr fesaionals. ance by s small and cost.
cover
the jury believed that semiarticulated trucks would not be able to the region's difficult terrain, particularly durinq inclement This brouqht us to the now-infamous shied away frcm dependent scluuons but as a number "donkey debate." Many that used animals Jurors require type could
wearher.
leam of medical
We were gearing
as a means of transport.
community
on a spec.lie
to launch the project when 'he World Trade Center was attacked. Wren the UNHCR called Justa few days later, I felt conflicled Although we certainty did not have, the capacity 10 take on a project of that scale, it was a great opportunity to get architects and designel-s Involved in a UN initiative, We debsted wbet: er tc put tha Afnca
nrojer oressinq t all hold and focus issue. our attention on what seemed to be a more in Kenya, a terrible
It was an e-mail
Ye wrote:
that
d.sasterlosiru; 3,000 people in one day, it IS truly horrific. Naturally l1le tccus will turn toward briilging those responsible to justice, ar d
projects tlke ours will be pushed to one side. However. the pain is just as the fact IS.
Ar~hitedure tor HIJmal1ityDffio:e ~2003~20Q5 New'(ork,NY
A"f,!rO:~f,!rJumb(>r¢r\,lc,[t.1l'!tefCrs~2 M3)(;fr)1.II'J'1nllrn!:i(!roflf~I'J!'ltMr5_5
twice thst many people e"ery day to AIDS, and alt' ough
great-
respond to the UN.HCR call and 512\' iocused on Africa, In the e d We simply put out Q cett to arcnrtects in the area Interested in NOrk,ng With he United Nations. AlthQugh a srnatl qesture. this ab:~It'tto tap into a nelwcrk of protessfonats would become one of the rThlostImportant functions Architecture ior Humanity would perform. ot a month goes by wh-en we don'! connect an architect with a r'I!)I'toroflt. government entity, or community group-or vice versa. n the 5f1ring 012002 WE officially launched the Africa competition. Ageln, we were stunned by the response. During the five-month
ii_bov€ Competition boa-rds arrive at Architecture for Hurnanlty's "office" on 20th Street in New York.
38<)sq. R. '
I U:se:ltl.e!WQrk~pal:e-
A\.'\'!:"Ag~ '.'/o(~d{Jy
it. hours,
to obtein in many areas, The technology and a range of mobility and greater
donkeys-offered
region in terms of geography and culture, the group favored designs that could be "localized" rather those thst were
"Atricanized. finalists f~fter two days of deliberation the jury selected four and eight notable entries, that might be considered medical less than fez sible but were. with
Over the course of the jury process vie also came across a number of designs clnjc as always, rhouqht-crovckinq. and strapped-in ptane into an unsuspecting The giant soccer ball, complete viLla'ge completely stumped
Images of bloodied and bruised doctors staggering cut (If the clinic after it had barreled its way through town came to mind. The oth r entry that certainly cab that "extended" raised eyebrows 0 arrival was th.e truck with a spherical in a high to unveil the dink
of Africans
aillictad
with Hlv/A~OS,
showed
designing with pity and not pride, The most successful projects Were submitted by interdisciplinary teams, which usually included a medical consultant, thai approached tho issue with dignity and optimism. The winnirrg were exhibited dirigibles,
designs,
and informed,
and
at galleries
by JefF Alan Gard, detachable motorbikes. Kenya-based juror Reuben Mutiso selected it as a political steterne t on the inequity of global health care, noting, -If AIDS was at a rate in the United States that it is in Africa, we
would buiiding not be concerned with cost We would build these and keep urnerous them until we can put a stop to this pandemic."
and low-tech solutions, One notable entry, was an airship with a fully deployable clinic and
projects embraced similar themes, Africa Under Sieqe proposed a militaristic "pre-emptive stri~e" approach, whereas the proposal by
Soren Barr and Chris French involved vehicles seernfngly from Africa's lighthearted, commented converting tanks and military some civil war-s into ctrucs. One of our persona! Other designs. favorites top JLJry members review competition boards from the OUTREACH competition to design mobile health clinics to combat HIV/A10S.in subSaharan Atrlca.
Kenai
the for above Arvp enqineers from Botswana and South Afrka discuss structural issues of a mobile health clinic with its designers, Heide Schuster ami Wilfried Hofmann.
d-es~9n,which hig.hlighted
OUTREACH, Design
Clini~s to Combat
HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Mobile H-ealth Cltnle BeedhcLmm, Mads
Nikkel
Hansen;
Jan Sondergaard
KHRAS Architect,
Vi.rum, Den-mark
Firsi-place finatist
~_mrt~.
,~§'.~~
-5~:]B.O.C.S ..M.E.D.S. ' Brend_an Harnett, Mir;heUe Myers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY, USA Second-place flnallst
Mobile rnterventten Heide Schuster, Witfried Hofmann University of Dortm und Dortmund, Germany Third-place finalist
MobilR Health Clinic Ga~ton ToUta, Nicholas Gfttiland at-elier [giLlil.and to Lila] Paris, France rounders Award
OUTREACH: Design Ideas for Mabil~ Health Clinics to Combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan
Africa
"='-::;:;==="""
p-_ ~
....
Africa Under Seige Craig Coulton. Marc.el Bathil Lcnden. England, and Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile Health Clinic Detroit Collaborative Design Center Dan Pitera, Chris lee. Christina Heximer, Andrew Detroit. Mich., USA
Sturm
Heallh Over War Saran Barr. Chris Frsnch Washington. DC, USA
Kenaf Field Cljnic Kyoto University Hlrchlde ,Kobayashi with Takeyuki Okubo, Koichi Shiwaku, Shohei Yokoyama, Ayako Fujieda, Takeyuki Yamadi" Yohei Kondo, Tcru Fuk'mo Kyoto, Japan
Mobile Health Cline JAG Design Jeff Alan Gar'd San Francisco, Calif., USA
Mobile Clinic Prototype for Lagos, Nigeria Pierre B~langer. MLA; Owens Wiwa. MPH, MD University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada Pierre Belanger, a landscape architect at the Univer5ity of TQTQ!'1tn, and OWens Wfwa, a doctor, adapted a Vario S1l;O into a mobile health clinic.
IN,
'"," health care in developing countries. In New York an attar-school program organized a group- of high schoclers fram Harlem to visit the exbibiuon.f Untorumately their teacher had written- down the address of our "office," not the gallery, and while I was wailing 031the Van Alen, Kate found herself with 30 bemused studio, au lining up to us€' the bathroom atter teenagers in our tiny
hard lessons that came out of the project were contextual funding and affordable. less than a permanent to maintain almost to produce,
cases costing 80
cost
clinic. they could not be implemented would be needed to run it At one point and let to that from
the facility" And while a clinic might $1.5 million drugs for Ihe community, into the "office," researching
a Long subway ride.l By the end of 2003 the OUTREACH exhibit had been viewed by over ~O.OOO people and covered in many publicatlcns. and it seemed
p-ollhcians were finaUy taking the threat of AIDS in Africa seriously. In May 2003 President worldwide Emergency centers areas, thai support Bush Signed into law a five-year, $15 billion PLan for AIDS Retief, A key component of a layered clinics network of central units medical satellite and mobile in rural
We spent most of 2002 and 2003 appLying fer grants. we had five people all crammed
contacting hundreds of rcundat.ons. We soon learned that there were very few grants dedicated to building health-care facilities,
alone mobile architecture, our medical operatic health-care facilities, and almosl required no funds dedicated toundauons applications More frustrating, partners, Ihe heallh-oriented
technicians, possibty rotating nurses, and local healers, who would be trained in standard clinical evaluation and the d.stribution of medicaticn. exactlyl We were taken aback, as the wording mirrored lalrncst the criteria we hod published on the Web a year earuer,
yet another
At one low point we were turned down for 13 grant for which we hadnt even a apllec. We·ve since focused much of our energy On buitdlng
Some have suggesled the adrnlnistration might have been honing 115 "cut-and-paste" skills during the last rewrite of its plan, Either way,
thai architects
and community
had broad
des-ign projects
now have a place to turn failed for lack of funding, made the role of the In
support
when the New York Times ran a two-page story on Ihe project, the writer briefly mentioned that Kate and I had also started something
archltsct
process, project. license
c-
or
the development
to focus on the rights Ooe of to
Many architects
among
We also hit a snag over inrellectuai Mads Hansen, was caught his team's
the finalists,
many inquiries about the soccer team as it aid offers to support OUTREACH, By the sp-mq of 2004, however, we had raised enough
donations, including sponsorship from Virgin Atlantic, to send Ihe top lour design teams to Somkhetc, 50ulh Africa, one 01 the areas hardest hit by the virus, to participate in a developmant workshop The workshop, and Population to col.abor-ate representatives, cohosted
situation
Centre's attention, conference
left the
idea and his desire to lrnplement the project. This asiqn-c-and us~ in an awkward statecf limbo and to pursue the project, a prototype continues despite the Africa for building of the design to garner
2005 we presentee the projects at an internatlonel on mobile health care, where a representative from
Institutes of Health thanked us for opening their eyes
the Nationat
to develop and refine the" projects, The teams also visited a range 01 clinics and clinic types In the area, allOWing them to see Ilrsthanc the needs of health-core DUring the charrette and other potential the Africa Research p.rtn@ring prcfessionals partners, battling the HIV!AIOS pandemic. with the four teams wcrksc
to other ways of deli .... er-ing mobile care. Moreover, as the cost of antiretrovirat drugs has dropped, thanks in part to the Clinton Foundation and countries like Brazil that embraced gen.eric drugs,
the concept forward workshop atelier of rno bile ce re has beta me even more viable a number of designers pushed projects on their own. Alter the African formed
10
medical groups
trip both the AIDS interest in
Also . as with the Kosovo endeavor, with developing [gllUland Clinic"] the team of Nicholas
and Family Care Clinic in Mombese, with uvc-if we could find the funding the idea to doctors lhat mobile out, although
Kenya. and had to bUILd a prototype and other health care had been had the. profession
served an both our advisory When we started p-utessicna.s. aco"nrl for decades, pitching
we had thought
medical
in Tanzania. Pierre Belanger, who teaches landscape architecture at the University of Toronto and whose design was selected for the exhibition as .one of the most pragmatic solutions.
As it turned
teamed
i ::
!
" F
:::
~iI"st-place, finalist
Sec.ond-plac.e finalist
Notable .ntry
Centre for
~ International
Benz Varia 814 cargo panel van to create a self-contained, fully medical clinic. The clinic is 110W in use on the A3 highway In southeastern Nigeria, Finally, Geoff Piper, Jamie Fleming. and
Sullivan, adapted a learn of former three motorcycles University of Washington medical units for into mobile enabled
areas in Kenya.
more important, the project us to develop led to our wilh lhe Africa Centre, which eventually center
As support for Architecture for Humanity grew, we received more and more requests from people and groups wantjng to volunteer or get involved in their own communities. Beginning in late 2003 "AFH chapters" a month desiqners greening women's in bars began sprouting up around the world, whether we Emily Chaffee. Karin Sc:hierhotd. and Tiona Martin go over urban planning str'ategies. for nver-tha- Rhlne in Cincinnati, Ohio,
CaiTJ~roll Sill~lair/ArthltHturl" Inr Humanity
By 2004 hundreds of people were meeting once or restaurants to discuss ways of gjving back to
local group, and a for
redesign;
and
targ'eled improvements
The Point
University's in Cincinnati,
Center
for Community
Engag-ement
in
Over-the-Rhine,
2004 In
CDC, a community
a local representative
call along the lines of 'Hi. This is the head of AFH San Diego, and we want 10 start a building OK?- As far as we know, in the United States there are active groups in around 30 cities including Atlanta. Boston, Minneapolis, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. Internationally there are groups In Dublin, Genoa, London, herself and Sydney.
of remarkable
and
people.
commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of Freedom Summer and invotved over 65 architects, desiqners, and cornrnunuy members, including an original Freedom Summer civil rights leader. It used design to encourage voter registration, develop urban planning strategies, and inspire community participation in Over-the-Rhine, a disenfranchised neighborhood. Over-time Architecture for Humanity became a conduit, supporting innovative design and creating opportunities for architects to lend their services in times of need. For example, when the city ot Bam,
Iran, suffered a monumental structures combined earthquake on December a US-based 26,2003, we helped raise funds for Relief International, NGO that had
before
talks at colleges
created
innovative
two
using
years earlier,
to build innovative
steel subtrames
Village Shelters
of contributors
and Cynthia
researchers
said calls at all up in the Both
Design, designers
Bartoo,
they waled to get involved and found themselves of the globe, Most recently, In his Airstream,
Daniel and Mia Ferrara, had designed an innovative foldable cardboard shelter, which they believed could be used in postdlsaster and other emergency manufacture Grenada situations, prototypes They had partnered ot th€ design, with Weyerhaeuser to which cost only $370 each. but At about this time millions of Ivan, causing
of a road trip with her dog. Ginger. from Memphis. they had some time to help outIn our largest
they needed help 10 get Ihe shelters had just been ravaged
field-tested.
to date we collaborated
by Hurricane
: '" e and right AoFHny wa.rked w~th The Point _DC to treate, a phased plan cf erevemeets to their building !6.enlified by letters to the of the planl. The fir-st project 3e realized is a system of y ng and storage. which wa~ ed by The Peint and a grant Architecture for Humanity.
~;lr!
a SECONDFLOORCu.ss~OOM
~H.oiitIill""'IiII"·_WN
b MAN~DASTR.EET GAn;
~1~_"lIIo:I'IOrtllHQ'"
pU! willi
-... ·s point team atop storage SIIit:s oeing built for the building·s Left 10 right: Jack Heaney.
d~'.------':';:_ e~-.,-.--~.f
C COUATVAflD
-~~----~ /
: ...,.~~1II
.wbey lcecrdinatcrl,
nna 'Rhee, Jason Gibbs, c.nie' Sobo. Jan Kan (not pictured: _Groff).
_._
MUSlCSlUDIO:
-"""-,/.."""-
=:
dollars of damage. decimating 85 percent of the housing stock. and wiping out almost all of the island's main cash crap, nutmeq With no oostdrsaster many months getting Spear In response volunteer effort underway. relief plan in place and scant media attention, efforts to begin. Just as construction into the island. and connected and shelters GR3. which the to with the help of l.aurinda firm Arquitectonica for Humanity Relief, Emily slammed disaster.
we became
involved
in Kirinda. as
on the southeast
it took
was
who happened
a Fulbright scholar and would soon become our on-the-ground field rep. brought the project to our attention. He had joined forces with a team of local architects. including Pradeep Kodlkara. veruna de Silva. and 5anath Liyanage. to assess the damage in Kirinda. which had been hard hit by the sea surge. Eventually the team volunteered its services to the governmenl Planning community integrate as the Urban Development a strategy Authority Kirinda worked with the Team. For the next two months to develop the architects
Mia and Dan with officials between Ferrara Reconstruction the island is alliliated
[GR3i. Together
for a sustainable
and rural
wi1h the
called what of the in Sri
helped distribute
committed
units and made sure they got to those most in need. In another instance, the nonprofit Kids with Cameras help develop brothels University. initial schematic ptans for a school in Calcutta, India, We worked with students
buildmqs
in the
plan.
plan could be
for children
approved,
a survey
to demarcate
at Montana
came to be known as the 1DO-Meter Line. In the first few weeks after the tsunami affected deemed lanka countries too started to implement
schemes. After a series of reviews the students refined their ideas for final presentation to KJds with Cameras at the end of the sernaster; The design process 1aunch a t.indraisnq Overall. helped the organization campaign have inspired solidify their plans and to think to build the school. planners and others
"no-build'
zones. areas
buffer zone from the shore. but how measured was set;
our projects
creatively about how to solve issues in their community. For example, the Kansas City Economic Development Corporation used our
Slyathemba an abandoned setting competition to build a soccer club that would them through
from the nearest landmark. In Kirinda a line of 100 meters but the team was not too concerned, as this did not affect tor rebuilding. However. most tense day was when a government surveyor started
its. plan
placinq
double as a to turn of
own
when a 9.3-magnitude the deadliest of miles, tsunami in the pummeling
Then. on December 26.200". Architecture for Humanity went from bemg a small design group to being a design-oriented organization Iwith an offrce] seemingly earthquake recorded
In
overnight.
the Maldives.
Sri Lanka,
took the lives of more than 225.000 people displaced. The Indonesian by
13 countries
province of Aceh and the coastline of Sri Lanka. both impoverished years of conflict before the disaster struck, were hardest hit. This was a key moment, the entire Immense, concerns movement not just for our organization conscious design. but for memory task that initiative for socially
110t
and th!s was one of the first disasters was focused but also on the enormity
in recent
where attention
with wortdcoanqinq.corn
to raise funds to to
Cameroo5illciairJAtl::hite<:tuf'\' lor Humanity
Rather
Ihen measuring
some areas the line moved inland as far as 300 meters. pulling out behind This would have been comical line would determine be torn down, The architects the plall, during representatives the line should
him as he went
if it had not been for the fact that the and whose would into refining that the
: '"
.
..
persevered,
a large community meeting. government of the Urban Development Authority decided move even farther farther for their inland to include main road-even if thai meant
For the team it was the final blow. After board with no assurances that the tine would members lost faith in the process, and In tate Octaber-1 0 months
_"'.
reconstruction plan for Kirinda. Sri Lanka, showing the shifting 100-Meter by Samir Shah. Pradeep Kedlkara, varuna de SiLva, and Sanath
came to a standstill.
after the tsunami, with no approved plan and residents still sleeping in tents-the line moved again. this lime to 50 meters from the shore-in gavernmenfs other words, zoning 50 meters farther inland than lhe for original regulation. is not an Isolated incident;
at Kirinda
:tarlntpd pegs in Kirinda. Sri Lanka, mark where it is sate to rebuild. 5Gr'Yeyors would often place pegs such that the 1DO-Metar Line ran through "IIC!"Tl!S that hiJd been untouched by the tsunami. The extended tamily pictured 'W!R'was toLd th~t their h;ome_~~~t~ beca~se ~l~rossed ove~ 100-Meter Lme, Th;r.:were also told l.ha1 they we"'-tl!!!ellglble for housmg .I$SIstance becausv.helr home was stllt :sland I n91and halff:lf.it-.w..ilL AQt.ed on the safE. side of the line. At the time there were 1'1' eople li;ing p thlss1ructur:e.
5int(au-IArcn'tel:tlJ~I"rHlJmetl'ly
the most part the relief and reconstruction effort was chaotic and crippled by bureaucracy. Competition for projects between hundreds 01 groups led to detays, duplication of efforts, and community ~esenlment. (In Sri Lanka alone there are now more than 1,000 /"NGOs working on tsunami-related projects.] V. rious decrees a ,. ., _ from governm~nt mtmstnes dictated the minimum standards and fun.dlng commitments aid agencies could make in order to receive government support for the construction of housmq and schools in many instances these were in direct conflict with each other, and the ever-changing aid agencies for the same agencies. initiate project standards official resulted in stagnation, Often multiple government h. helped schools. that would designed interning drew received further memorandums and delaymg including of understandinq construction. with Relief
on the same
cornpllcetlnq of projects,
Still, before Samir left to return a number International enable students on a project to return permanent to design to school facilities,
to the Uoited 5tates partnerlnq and build transitional structure plans. during
a bask cost-effective
The resulting
by Jason Andersen, a student at Montana State University in our office. with input trom Samir and Relief International, from the regional systems, crews, many vernacular made and included up largely materials rainwater Simple and flexible, of them different the .scberne allowed of parents. and building
collection
local construction the design With
to adapt methods
to accommodate
Nine months after the tsunami crasses in Pcttivul, Sri Lanka, were being heLd under ptasttc tarps provided by UNICEF.
"'~I"O"
5;ru::i.a ~/Ardll~'(IUrt! lor
Hi,lm.allizy
-rqht Three transitional seneets were implemented in the Ampara Ois1rict of Sri lanka by Relief International and buUt and adapted by the par-en's of the children attending. The schools were designed using toeal materials and are to last from two to four years. before permanent facilities are construcfed,
SUS] P'attiAr,r,iteo;llIre lor
HUl'r\l!l'lIt~'
be-tow Rendering of a transitional sc:tmol designed by Jason Andersen with Alan Wright of Relief International. The school incorporates a rainwater collection system and is designed
to maximize ventilation.
_'as<:'fi
jl"r;l~rs~lA'tMEtt\lre
fer Humam!i'
above left An:hitec, Purnima McCutcheon (seated ~t center} leads workshops with a Dalit community in i\mbedkar Nagar, Tamil Nildu, India, to d,esign a community' center, lett and below The resulting, elevatiDns and plans for tha commuoit'l center, whic:h ine:Ludes a meeting nau, primary sehoul. women's cooperative, kitchen, tb.,ter, and playground.
Pl'"lrn'm~
above rjght Villagers creete an adjacency diiillgr.un to establi&h the sile for the new-comml.ilnity center.
PLJrr.ima MeC~lcfle-critArdntKlYI"I! fer l-4um.. n't~
MtCul(he(lrllt..r.:hM,dur-e
for 'Htlmonity
schools
on
student-led
community
rebuilding
initiatives, including a joint effort by the Harvard Graduate School of Design and MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory (see "SafelR) House"],
large-scale
now working
collaborative
near
Auraville,
impLement
women-run
bakeries,
for Hurnanltv
of reconstruction
Just as our tsunami projects were gelting underway there came a new disaster. For years experts had warned of the dangers of a dir-ect hit from" Category 4 or 5 hurricane to the city of New Orleans, "Though storms, trapped the protected by levees designed to Withstand the most common can. gel
partnered with the League of Education and DevelopmenllLEAO!, an affiliate of the Barefoot Archite cts lsee "Barefoot Cotleqe"]. and AIAregistered, LEED-certified architect centers Pumima making McCutcheon it impossible to design for people to to
leveL at m~tny points. A flood from a powerful inside the levee system,' On August ground
2002 expose In
gathered as
Times-Picayune
Katrina
some
school.
Rather than build an expensive bridge, Ihe community fisherman build a pier that wilL enable a boat to ferry students across the river.
the storm
city into a bowl 10 be filled with water. Flooding of Ihe city under water disaster weeks outstripped later: Together, and was compounded as high as the capacity tile storms
to pay a former
submerged 80 percent 20 feet lsi' m! in some places, The Rita hit Texas Less than four reminder of the shelf .• r before-not after-the
inevitable happens. Horrified Americans watched bodies floating in the flood waters and thousands in unsafe and unsanitary center, shelter through diaspora pleading for help. more thar. a million leither vovchers! The storms displaced conditions
housing
has complicated
the area's
for residents
controversial and desiqners effort.
reconstruction. FEMA has proposed temporary trailer parks. each' to house between 200
for the short term. temporary residences is working centers shelter In response many that could be 511ed wilt take, in the access not
300 displaced
have proposed
White it is too early lo say what shape the rebuilding far Humanity assistance wiU that will give residents
regian to create resource only 10 financial hope the centers rebuild Just five weeks catestrophic reeling
but also to architectural services. We become places where families will come to communities. and Rita struck, a region and left the world Katrina
AVH<I'9f'flumberolvoll.lnleers,_4 Ma.:I!fm~m nLJmtJll["ur 'i,r~~un(eers_1 Area 1!lIJDsq.lt. DISI':-I'!ce10 neerestcouee __ 10n Average M;oflee$ perdo!y __ 5 "'ie~gewor'kdi'l'l' 17.Snours ~~"Ih3obl-[~spaC<f
their lives and more sustainable after hurricanes earthquake hit the Kashmir
yet again. On their own each of these disasters the government agencies Coming as they did Within months
was of a scale
with
result
was a disaster
wllhm
a disaster: to react.
Kashmir
was particularly
affected
by the Lack at capacity of them children over two million aid, officials
a considerable amount of time and effort and is understandably reluctant to qive her design away, for fear someone could "steal" for profit. that
As we write this text, over 87,000 people have died from the quake-many collapsed-and real danger winter. illness, Without who attended the 6,000 schools Himalayan death people have been displaced. The
a
and in ii"'1 of
is yet to come with the onset of the brutal say. thousands multiplyiriq potentially
in areas of great need. This system worLd while giIJing her varying degrees
and infection,
toll several times. over. Within weeks agencies ran out of tents, leaving aver 500,000 people without shelter. (In one of life's sad ironies, Since learned We
SOOrl
nations.
Using this license we hope to build a database designs, including construction documents, ideas. of mnovative
Pakistan tents.
largest
of
"some
50
rights
protected
emergency
I
of Architecture for Humanity, Initially on small of success and failure, organization and with every project we've a tittle further. focused
that there can be a wider distribution By supporting innovative professionals for designers with projects
the inception
design, consultinq
connecting opportunities
to those in need. We have demonstrated, and hope to continue to do so, that for every "celebrity architect" there are hundreds of designers around the world, working under the ideal that It is This with In some cases of collaborating have pursued to learn not Just how we build but what we build that truly matters. book represents just a sampling directly. of their efforts. Architecture for Humanity has had the pleasure ln other cases designers
we have constructed
the industry. In the future our goal is to create an open-source while still protecting the rights network solutions of the designer.
these designers
-,me and again we have come across a buiLding idea to develop, could make a huge impact many gLobal housinq crises. Yet the designer
that, if
help has invested
and possibly
faCilitated
by architect
Susi
J,ne PLatt in Pottuvi', Sri Lanka. to design wamen-..-un cDmmunity bakltrie:s as part of a livelihoDds initiative,
memberS
IArrnileclulllfcrHun'lOIIl'>ity
!
,.
2~ ~ ~
At 5:18 in the morning on April 18, 1906, the earth heaved beneath San Francisco, California,
The earthquake lasted for less than a minute, shearing facades off euddinqs. rippin.g houses from their foundations. and opening a rift in ,he ground survivor. 270 miles (435 krnl lonq and up to 21 feet (6,4 ml deep, "It crushed a man as if he were a
In the immediate
aftermath
of the earthquake
to respond, Survivors who had the means either left the city or roomed with friends or relatives outside of I~e burned district.
Those who remained working Initially provided were those With little alternative, primarily the poor and the destitute the Army, the American tents. But as aid workers Red Cross, and volunteers and offtcials families shifted their focus of grants creditin the combination
'!
i.
,as as if the earth was slipping gently from under our feet:" wrote one
"Ahead of me a great cornice
",aggot"l But if damage b-orn the earthquake was extensive. the fires that ~c,lawed were catastrophic. With its rows of closely spaced wooden
ictorian homes and unrainfcrce d brick buildings. San Francisco at the "urn. of the century was a tinderbox awaiting a match. The fires raged
from relief to
and loans were given to middle-class couLd afford to purchase worthiness However, "refugees" to support more than. the building month
'0- three days, charring more than 500 blocks-nearly a quarter of the .; l)i. By the time rescuers were able to sift through the cinders, more
- an a quarter of a million belween people were left homeless,' 700, it is now estimated 1.500 and 3,000 lives.' lines and cable cars. a mix 01 ethnic in wealth. The earthquake marked Although the e'f,c,at death count totaled ;-,d fires claimed +odarn that the earthquake
burned district.'
after the disaster tent camps some 40,000 throughout of permanent with leading of this In the camps one ~ ~ ~ 1907 San Francisco built Corps of Engineers. In the midst were still living in makeshift Concerned the civilian
the city.!i The camps posed a new worf\j: live in the city's parks? squatter the relief quandary settlements, efforts officials
by the possibility
commiltee
debated
disparity
~~e 01 the first major disasters of the industrialized age, and many of --c housing strategies employed by nascent relief agencies and the
would
agencies-strategies
micro-credit.
housing lor the working poor while an end to the camps. At the center of this strategy was
" '~e relief effort was the innovative marriage of policy and desiqn :H led to the construction thousands of small wooden cottages
or
the design for e small wooden cottage. Between September 1906 and March more than 5,610 collages The cottages ranged designed in size from
by the flrmy
-'"
140 square ~
e:
1911 Trlaf'lgl~Shirtwaist Company Flr'e New York, NY, USA A blaze in <I g~rmeM factory ctatms the live s 01146 workers, most of them women. Public outcry teeds to It'le creation at li roesatety codes
NIS.
Constructed by union carpenters and painted "Parkber-ch Green," the cottages consisted of only two or three rooms and were as easy to
---I
relccare as theywere
$2 a month, Ihe city's public parks.
to build. Families
occupants
were granted ownership of the cottage and allowed to move it from the park at their own expense. Failure 10 move the cottages out of the camps by August 1907. a year and a half after the disaster, resulted in forfeiture of ownership.'
In this way the cottages provided not only decenllemporary tor hundreds sheller but also a path 10 homeownership of San Francisco's
lcw-waqe-earn.nq
means 10 purchase
new homeowners
Until recently, biggest natural Francisco reliable thorough shelter relief
implemented
a more
water-supply
conducted
technology-driven,
for
Survey remains
experts,
res of postdisaster
lessons to future and
little resonance
wrestling with the day-to-day realities of water, and sanitation to tarnitie s in need, Over
rediscovered. twentieth century has been one continuing emergency," wrote Charles Abrams, a prominent advocate for housing reform, ill 1946. Today these words seem prophetic. For mare than a 100 years housing has been gripped by a cycle of war.
-HOUSing in the natural disaster, and poverty. Slums, whether and floods or urban planners with bulldozers. regenerate territories. rumblings For to the and grow larger. And, whether of the Refugees ceadty ccnflcts flee across borders in countries seeking cleared by earthquakes disappear only to by ever-more in neighboring has proved shelter shield
of relief
and development became divorced from and design. What architects considered
considered an issue of planning
aid workers
This disconnect
should althe best address
would eventually
threatened
ar a necessity? This issue would plague not just architects but also planners, pcticymakers . and ad organizations struggling to balance
the logistics of providing shelter with the human longing for a place
can completely
to call home
decades archnects hsvs been called upon to provide solutions world's shelter crises. However, as designers embraced the
1'1'
Demountable France (various Wooden House locations)
1914-18 WorllfWarl
American Friends Service Committee Buill by vcturtteers to house Wodd War I refugees. each "demountable" wooden ho-us€ consisted of two rooms.
"We are dealing with an urgent problem of our epoch, nay more, with the problem of our epoch. The balance of society comes down to a question of building. We conclude with these justifiable alternatives: Architecture or Revolution. Revolut;ion can be avoided."
Le Corbusier,
Utopian profound
by
green space was linked by transportation by his famous Three Magnets and
cities promised the best of both town
~ g
high waqesl and country (beauty, fresh air, of town planning combined with modernism of
law-income
I
!Z.
a fever pitch.
concrete. building
first developed
by now
water to soar same
SteeL-frame
buildings
Urbanism of new buildinq codes was just one of a senes of architecture of at the changes that would affect the practice
to unprecedented
The inlroduction
shortages
or social.
turned on 'he such as their
time, workers continued 10 migrate to urban areas, crowding into sprawling slums on the edges of cities such as Paris. This surge
in demand building called for new thinking about housing design as well as techniques that not only met the needs of the new machine
movements
By
the nineteenth
century
increased
is associated
conditions
by architects to produce
Thomas Annan in GLasgow and Jacob Riis in New York used their art 10 document the "insatubrious" living conditions of the "other half.'
to brassieres.
Tenant associations
housinq founded
initiatives took
in by the industrialist became
shape. Many of these housing GUise. France. a "workinq-ctass jeen-Beptlste-Andre behalf of their workers'
Le Corbusier
the house as·a
In 1914-15
by companies an
and productivity
Inextricably linked to housing, The reform movement's cau for sanitary living conditions led to the introduction of tight wells and
other design improvements antidote published for tenement housing. Howard Howard offered
architect developed a basic. universal housing unit called the Maison Dam-ina. The unit consisted 01 little more than floor slabs of reinforced concrete supported by comer columns and lifted off the
ground upon by pilotis. or piers Lt could be repeated endtassty or stacked
itself. Because the walls were not load bearing. the interior spaces could be configured in diHerent ways to meet the varying needs of occupants." Prefabricated walls and uniform doer and
window Flanders, 1927
MiSSiSSippi Lower Rrver Flood region, USA MI~'5i~5ippl
%.
if
i?
heiqhts
simplified
construction
further:
Le Corbusier
saw his
g
~
.,
system as a
of regions such as which had been heaviLy damaged during World War L. He
(If NaUon5 established .ersetlles. France Established alter the end of World War I, ..... league 'Of N~lions' qcal was to settle ~
League _-:spute$ between -eereced nations and foster ceace. After World War II by the United
lin
ill
it
woutd be
are destroyed. Frank Lloyd Wright's "earthquaka-prcof" Imperial Hotel ~1916.~221 is one cl the few structures
tett standing.
The lower Mississippi River ftoods, illunO.;.tlng 27,000 square miles and shattering levee- systems trom
Nations.
"Architecture
is a process of
on the Wannsee
built tWQ prototypes based QC his ideas for exhibition. The Immeubles .,11.5119221 and the Malson Citrchan [19221, a play on lhe automobile name Citroen. Throughout the '20, Le Corbusier architecture expounded on his ideas for a new Industrialized and urban ptar-s. Another systems founded early pioneer of prefabrication architect as public and component building who was the German the Bauhaus the architect Walter Oropius. servant Gropius, in a series of manifestos
With standardized
building
components" modular systems, and prefabrication, Including the French industrial designer Jean Preuve and Frank Lloyd Wright, but perhaps Fuller dwellings contribution, none more passionately Fuller. on what he termed the future condition. of language "spaceship earth" in 1895. Like he believed that mass-manufactured belief in the power of design lectures (the arrived than the American inventor R. Buckminster
01 housing. His most lasting 1('1 sense Fuller, who was known a
and his marathon design. and the collapse of has been fully transcribedl,
personified
and teacher,
with prefabricated
to improve
longest
the human
USE
panels and eventually whole structures. During his tenure and that of his successors, the Bauhaus became a nexus for socially conscious design" Gropius, become conceived century, apartment windows along with Marcel Breuer, for many luture the cramped, from rampant is aso credited With deSigning orolects, housing was
was the first evangelist block, This new building lightles5 type, which would his first business,
affordable-housing tenement
contemplating
brought
land speculation
01 parallel
that his experience might ultimately be somehow useful to his fellow human beings, Rather than taking his own life, he decided 10 embark on a lifelong experiment, using himself as his own best research subject. He became "Guinea Pig 8" Itor Buckyl, lhe world's first test pilot of a 'design-science to improve
1931
tront and back, The slabs were Sited on a "superblock" green spaces between
12
revolution,"
of which was
allow maximum
1tZ~
sunlight
into each
apartment
"human
livinqry,"
and he started
~:~~ing Ad of 1930 England 1930-3' Dr-ou-ghl and nust Storms MiOw-eslerr. and southern plains. USA
houses
blocks an the
Waller GropiLJs
"handcrafted" Fuller
homes had undergone argued. and did not make efficient buildings depended could be suspended,
in 5,000 years,"
much maintenance, Most conventional But what if a building lor greater thinking
strength
the pnnciple
to make ei1icient
maintenance-free aluminum. It was naturally climate controlled and could be lit by a single light source through a system 01 mirrors and dimmers, All the rnechanlrals. wiring, and appliances were built into
the walls and mast to allow for easy replacement. ats,o one of the lirst examples as Fuller "",f . neluding put itl green design. rainwater. methane people], and Fuller's gas.l~ collected of self-sufficient Wind turbines "package The house was energy. The washing waste R. Buc.kminster Fuller wlth an early modeL of h.t$ Oymaxio,", Heuse
Buckmmeter Feuerlnstltete
Water-saving
and recovered
While the Dymaxion House was unabashedly ahead of its time t would be two decades before Fuller could find backing to build
2
Suddenly
detailed,
and delivered
without
fUll-scale
prototype},
the concept
of building
with tension
rather
became shelter,
by extension,
for "factory-
very different
By tho
day.
viability.
had become
an integrat
part of American
the Dymaxion
by migrant
commercial
housinq
For
into dweUings. With the onset of the Depression, the demand for cheep, portable housing grew. A mobile home seemed the next logical step. In 1936 Wally 8yam built the first Airstream trailer. icon,
=_ :
o
-ear Bordeaux,
However.
a sleeL-clad,
Although
aerodynamic
embodiment
would eventually Portable
_, "mber
of lasting
the Airstream
=_ .c.nq.It
-0
the technology
designs such as the Durham Influential." Not only did the Durham. mimic: the styling
of a conventional
1936 HlJuslrJg
Airstream Clipper
Los An.geles, Wally Byam Calif.. USA
Calharina Sauer
19J4
1737
Housing USA Act of 193?
is followed
by
ootbreaks
o-f
disease.
to the "double-wide"
mobile home because it was transported on site to form a single dwelling. merits housing have bean the subject come true. According 01 to
in two
just
offered
a surprisingly
efficient,
well-crafted
to the concept
of delivering construction
prefabricated homes. Most Sears homes used wood-frame conservative the General in Chicago. defaulted approach became 25 in style. However, Houses company to exhibit
US
from
in 19341he retailer
census figures, the number af mobiLe homes has increased 315,000 in 1950 to nearly 8.8 million loday." Approximately
18 million Americans now live in mobile homes, According to research by laculty and students at the Harvard Graduate School of [)esign,
mobile homes have become housing mortgages, of aIL dwelllnqs the most common form of unsubsldfzeri boards homes than in ,America-despite financing homes and Ihe tendency hostile community to use shoddy
was forced to shut down its Modern the industry standard Movemenl collapse for
division." The kit-home was never revived on a large scale, and mobile homes
Homes
rnalerials and
The Social Housing With the real-estate question: white other may lie to make within Land highway providing street housing High unemployment brought on
in North America.'~ homes raises an interesting such broad acceptance. than a standard became alternatives received
by the Depression,
took on new urgency. sent many onto the institutions became
tow-Income
and rampant
workers
foreclosures Lending
With each "box" no wider rigidly controlled, For Ihe first time, housing
reluctant to make home loans. and with down-payment requirements as high as 50 percent, few people could afford one anyway.
Deteriorating slums ccnditions and health concerns in rapidly a number expanding of urban of provoked governments to act, spawning
needed to be submitted
homes filled a growing became a part of the The mobile mass-produced and
government
handouts. market
revitalization and progressive-era In England the Housing Act of government subsidized War housinq, begun afterWortd
American vernacular.
attempt 10 market
I), to slum-clearance
Party's ascansicn
cities. With the Labour adopled with Ihe inner-city the slogan,
hOUSing in America before World War II. Between 1908 1940 the American retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold as many as 100,000 homes Irom its calalogue." While not Iruly prefabricaled [the homes were delivered in some 30,000 parts by boxcar, complete with assembly alternative instructions and two tree planters construction for the front yard]. an affordable for a brief moment these "mail-orderhomes offered in ptaces where
Sl.nna.:"
London: Up with the Houses, Down 200,000 people were resellled. mostly from suburbs. that would schemes Iund the large-scale era were of the postwar
to traditional
materials.
With no
during the Depression. As foreclosures forced tens of from their homes, a group calling themselves "Housers," the activist
and expertise
were scarce.
which counted
Catharne
money down at prices starting from as little as $650, compared to the average home price of $1,000. What's more, the company guaranteed that "a man of a .... erage abilities" 1938 Durham Portable House
USA 1'-1.,
~-\~:f~ ~;:aXion
Various
Deployment Unit
US military bases
overseas
R, Doberman
1939
Eill·thquake
Dcncepclon and
"J1
Institute somewhat
of Planners paternal,
in 1939. perfectly
captured
the populist.
if
film proclaimed. WorLd War II The true effects several world's decades. attention
idealism of Ihe t~me.24 "Order has come." the "lts here' The new city. ready to serve a better age:
:::
programs
would
buyers
mortgages
:::
and 10 percent
the world's
housing
boom. ami opened the door to home Americans. homeownership to almost It is credited rate from 67 percent today."
c rtnurnbered
two atomic seconds.
those of soldiers.
bombs
The destruction
cities
in
American
pilots armed
with just
and Nagasaki
or homeless
Emergency Aalto developed be trucked heating unit.
25
The Finnish
areas were mapped. and neighborhoods that showed signs of decay or "undesirable populations," typically those with ethnic minorttias. were marked cistant corner 'or federally In addition. nation's in red. A single home occupied could cause an entire backed home mortgages while the Housing Act of 1934 stimulated passed the Housing in loans for low-income construction. Act of 1937. families. those who could not qualily Congress than $800 million of housinq lor loans-the to local housing
a temporary
emergency-shelter a number
system
that could
10 the site and house four families Preuve also developed a metal-frame including tent,
by a minority
family
in a
neighborhood
to be downgraded
shelters,
demountable barracks, and schools for war refugees that he called eccles ,oiantes (flYing schootsl.tThe Marshall Militaryagencies technical communication Plan pumped $12 billion into the reconstruction humanitarian engineering and aid of Europe and became a model for pcstccnfttct
assistance
of ports. roads. bridges, It was a role Ihe~ situations. of the by and the rise of the NGO.
The act required that for every dwelling built. the equivalent number of substandard dwetlings must be cleared." It was a centralized, top-down approach. Policies were enacted at the national level and effect on Housing carried out locally. Taken together. this Legislation
would
play increasingly
and disaster
The war also marked or nongovernmental lnternationat Henri Dunant aqcncics we\/e Committee
organization.
me landscape
concepts activists planning planned
of Amerkan
the virtues The
work today
were born amid the suffering and remorse that followed World War II. These include not only the United Nations but also government agencies such as Danida and the United States Agency for
communities.
City. a
by the American
nU-4.
Packaged walter House System wachsmenn
Bangladesh and West Bengal. India (formerly Bengal] Crop failures and political complications caused by Wo.rld War II
prompt a sharp rise
In
19~~-47
Wichita Dw.elliJig Machine
the cost
widespread famine, malnutrition, and related diseases. killing more than three million people.
W~~hita. Kan .. USA R. Buckmtnster Fuller The dwelling. shown at right, is. based on Futter's original concept tor the
Dyrn~}:iQn House. aL1tkm'MIEri=LJll~r Inshl\J1e
International
Development
[USAml hurnanitartan
Rescue Committee.
From this pumt on, NGOs would play an increasingly to refugees dsasters. faced the war the end of colonization struggled for h-dependsrrcs. emergency
an ere of conflict
as states
shelter-not
industrializing
As their number
systems
the- postwar
buildlnq
NGOs became
became
work,
"This is the real news of our century. It lis highly feasible to take care of aU of humanity at a higher standard of living than anybody has ever experienced or dreamt of. To do so without having anybody profit at the expense of another, so that everybody can enjoy the whole earth. And it can aU be done by 1985."
R. Buckminster Fuller, lecture
Sh,irry "new towns" disparate places emerged from the and Israel. faith in as part of their ideologies. postwar rubble of such Meanwhile, technology. production.
two separate fields; slum clearance and urban renewal Initiatives were now differentiated from the construction of low-cost housing in rural areas. lnc reaslnqlv. NGOs cultivated and contracted with. qovernment s and other specific service engineers The humanitarian providers. goats, becoming Some employed architects areas of expertise lnstitutrons to meet specialized on of projects. but most depended
as Poland,
Japan.
in a sense
Once again desiqners returned to the idea of mass Governments allocated grants for housing returning and dwellinqs such as Fuller's Dyrnexlon their House a-id the Lr.s-ron Home. 11945-51
I found
Gropius.
continued to develop prefab systems and partnered wilh Konrad Wachsmann and the Gene,al Panel Corp. in New York to market the Packaged House System 11943-481. The company buill some 200 homes in Ealifcrnia. but the venture was a financial failure and shut
and reconstruct their towns arid cities, modernism, wit'h its implicit denial of the past and its promise of efficiency and alfordability, seemed the perfect vehicle. In west Germany planners embraced the slab apartment block that Gropius and others had first explored in the '205 and ·3tls. In France Le Corbusiar was called upon to put many of hi's earlier Unite ideas. into practice for a project in Marseilles. the
dHabltatron. Built between 1946 and 1952, the lower block was composed 01300 residential "Oils slacked between shopping
,a
rcades
and
restaurants
to Iorrna Bogota,
on stilts. India.
111
years Ls Corousier
would also be hired to create urban and Chandigarh, etso co-opted n-oderrisrn
The limited success of these and other prefab projects did not prevent the idea from beIng exported to the desperate housing ministries 19~5 of the developing world, For example. acccrdinq to Charles
for Brttaln
untree Nil.tio~s founded San Pranolsco. 1i9.l"S",S1 Lustrcn Home Columbus,Oil.,USA C.alif., USA
family dweltmqs to Great Britain under l-end-lease. PllJmbing' and fixtures are
10 be shipped with the structures.. but
Carl Strandlund
The Lustron Home retails far $7,000..
Despite a government ptedqe 01 SliD million, only 2,4"98 homes are- produced before the comperw
forecloses in 1951.
Abrams,
in the postwar
walls
poured
in with ra.n
contracted
the Debre Act of1964 authorized slum clearance in Paris. In Britain the unemplO'lred and working poor were resettled into council housing cuilt on land leveled In America Urban Renewal
the government
planning
up to $448,000, Ghana quietly abandoned Ihe venture. In Karachi, Pakistan, small aluminum prefabs were constructed, which their owners promptly adapted and expanded components, sturns.?" with adobe, making discarded them, wood, a-id ather makeshift but'uinq words, "the first prefabricated Ultimately, made most prefabricated prefabricated world, wor.ld postwar mobile-home
SOOn
public-housing units, Tile act's stated goal was to provide "e decent home and a suitable lIvjng environment for every American family:" But its passage led to the cestruction were bulldozed and government to clty peripheries. in urban af more homes than to help. and were built. betraying Whole neighborhoods replaced triggered segregation by freeways houainq "white flight" low-income the very families it was intended complexes,
01 off-site
manufactured examples
dwellings
prohibitively Though
expensive
margins,
l.evittowns
of America's
prosperity,
in once-vibrant neighborhoods. Rather than fulfilling the promise of decent housing, Urban Renewal programs left a legacy of corruption. rioting, low-rise h.qh-rises sl.udents poverty, crime. dlsc-lrninatlon despair, and isolation. consisted of In the beginning apartment many of these new developments buildings, blocks
The first Leviltown, named after Its developer, William Levitt. was co nstru cted in Lo n 9 Isla nd betwee n 1947 a nd 1951_ AI. the ti me it W'2J S the largest But in terms project ~ousing development for another ever constructed reason:
by a single builder.
the landmark the concept site.
of h.rrnanltartan production
by
was significant
the norm.
in the public
to the building
after one 01 Heory Ford's wartime consisted of 17,447 homes, drove through
the Original
eye 01 least. the modernist tower block became the scapegoat lor an era of tl03wed housing polk-res The sight 01 demolition cr-ews dynamiting projects such as Pruitt-Igoe, a 33-tDwer public housing project in 51. LOUIS, Missor.rt-c once heralded fur its innovative skipstop elevator s, communaL years after its constructicn housing had failed. Slums laundries, seemed and common to confirm spaces-just By 20 public opinion.
each built
by construction
aff supplies, loans. up
teams that moved from lot to lot, performing and over as trucks The homes, $10,000 Beqinnnq the area
which came in only two styles, were priced at less than for federally backed in the 19505 LeVittown-style develcpments cropped
the 19705 it wa s elsa rto many that the postwar had not been replaced and shoddy
approac h to pu btic
by "new towns" or
compounded the ~
and the Philippines" Levitt himself in Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, France; the dominant construction foday method
remains
hOUSing developments
gas exptcsion caused the corner of a tower block to collapse In the London docktancs. killing two residents and injuring another 260."
Renewal sxpanslon c-ot the programs begun during the Depression" In France
Two years
relocated
later in Korea. 32 former slum dwellers who had been into a high-rise housing block were killed when it came
JJ
c rashin 9 down,
1'147-$1
reconstruction
of Europ-e
Near Gouma.
Hassan FOIth.y
Despite
these warning
approach
of Urban
had been successfully Moreover. agencies., architects, form of owner-built housing and empower
t R€newal continued
the developing struggUng to
of overcrowded
cities of
01
world, where they were embraced b~ governments cope with squatter invasions and explodinq populations,
Throughout the 19605 and 1970s governments in countries such as India, Zambia, and EI Salvador approved wide-reaching slumclearance housing programs construction Ilormerty in the name of economic development. However, could not keep pace with demand, settlements Bombay), for example, and uttimateLy The population people. or
projects, Iamilies
own homes? This was the idea at the crux of the self-help movement.]J".
One of the most notabte housing early experiments in self-help-style was the work of Hassan Fathy in Egypt. In the 19305 Fathy experimenting with mud-brick construe boo, Trained at what by the beauty and partly by a building a
began
in 1976. with
2.8 million
just under half the city, living in slums." Self-Help Whether a general and Sites-and-Services of modernist Programs led to their demise. initiatives and its ability in serving the public-housing prompted to improve the needs the
IS now the University of Cairo. he was inspired partly and sustainability of traditional Egyptian architecture shortage of timber. steel. and concrete
number of rural homes using traditional vaulted roots and mud brick.
including destroyed Antiquities a demonstration home for the Red Crescent project, near, or more accurately had a relics in the 1.0 be Egyptian in a village of by a flood. he was asked by the country's to design a large resettlement of Gourna, for finding Egypl, was situated suspiciously Department
or not the design of these buildings Loss of confidence to question in architecture the
the profession
were beginning
role of architects
above, the Tombs of the Nobles. At the lime its residents authentic their cellars, government In an effort to protect planned New Gourna. presented an opportunity
of those who could least afford their services. "Of all the participants architect of practical environment toward In the business of home building. is the only one qualified a clvltized experience. develop he should to guide the house and its and possessed constituted originality wrote
Was
to to the
new methods
design. Yet he fails in each of these responsiblities." survey of the housing industry. he argued. in improv.ing tripping the design of low-cost
Abrams
coming of wealthy shelter.">
that had sheltered centuries of Egyptians. To him. "apostles 01 prefabrication and mass production" did not appreciate or understand the depths of poverty in places like Egypt. "Thera houses these villaqers he wrote. address think is no factory on earth that could produce prefabrication. government It's a cruel mockery can aHord ....To talk of is worse than stupid. Nor. he felt. could of people as to be shoveled needing
not architects.
egos in the pursuit for eter-ienterv the work architects activist, Should
of the to influence
the problem:
authorities
people as "millions"
not only Implementation but also policy and planning architects playa meaninqtul role in providing shelter needed it most? And if so. what should that role be? The self-help 19'8-" housinq movement
things done to them. you will miss the biggest opportunity to save money ever presented to you. For, of course. a man has a mind of his own. and' a pair of hands that do what his 1949 USA
-----------------------------------------------------------------.----------------------~
Ge~dE5ic Come 1949 H-cu!ii,ngAc·1 Fuller North See. northern Europe 100-mph WInds cause a sea surge to crash into ccastet Britain, Holland, a.nd Betglum.In Holland the tidal waves cause dikes to break in 65 ptaces. Britain in
..
Fuller
reaches
at Bla.cl< MQuntain
College ,and invents the geodesic dome Over the CDLJrSeof the next several decades he will refine and e)Cpand on
H'" Tsunami
Hawaii. USA 50-foot waves. some moving as fast .as 490 mph. kill 96 people in the city of Hila. and destroy 46 homes, The
Isunernl W.arli;lig Rim. System stations is createc, around the with uve selsrnlc
sea wall's are breached in 1,000 causes 1,800 ceeths. The disaster teeds 1'(10 creation 01' the the national Storm Tide Forecasting Service and the erection of the Thames Barner, spots.
FtMding the world's largest movable ttccc barrier.
Pacuic
1946 and continued using mud-brick But the project beginning reLationship expected
through
1953. All the buildings craftsmanship, to develop a true who resented as finished
and traditional
client-architect
products. but because
being rasattled
labor. Construction
supply procedures.
Government ministers
at best and a waste of time and money at worst. The most darnninq critique came from other architects, who felt that the town failed to fuLfill its residents' desires for modern living. The peopte of Gourna refused to move to the new village. When Fathywent back to the unfinished village some 20 years later, he found it all but abandoned. Even in failure, however, the New Gourna experiment left a lastinq legacy. not the least of which is Architecture Written mind tells them ... Give him halt a chance and a man will salve his part of the housing problem -without the help of in 20 years after construction tasl< of trying to overcome influence for the Poor, Fathy's
architects. contractors,
government authority an office sitting
or planners-far
have a profound
on a growing
on issues of housing
in the developing
of each size will best fit the masses and will inevitably each private mass housing Vlelding
At the same time that Fathy was building more ambitious and far more successful
New Gourna,
family will build its own house to its own requirements. make it into a lively work of art. Here, in Longing for a house, in his eagerness is the alternative to the disastrous
J7
"self-help
person's schemes
project was under way in Puerto Rico. It was initiated as part of a government resettlement and Land redistribution program. Some 67,000 farm workers acres each. Housing organized encourage supervisor in and were given small plots of land averaging construction began in 1949, and families traveled three were
to the aspirations
loan funds were set up. and officials participation. and a social worker
to the demands
of local construction
were assigned
on the new community, which was planned to include a mosque, a school, a theater and other amenities i3S well as housing, beqan in "5"5-63
Lafayette Detrcn, Ludwig
1958 Park
Earthquake Arequipa, Turn'? Peru a self-help rebuilding
195'
Low-Income Housing
Mich., USA Mies van der Rohe and ludwig (completed by other Urban
l-4i1.bersheimer
program
traditional
construction
or not. Between
$: houses were built by the early 19605, This program would eventually influence a number
described
of self-help and mutual-aid housing initiatives, includi.ng the work of John 'F. C. Turner, who launched a similar program to rebuild some 10,000 homes destroyed by an earthquake in Peru in 1958, Turner tater
land simplified] the model to implement a number of slum-
decent homes"
30 years Habitat for Humanity would homebuilder in the United States The Habitat for Humanity advantages themselves, for Humanity and lesseninq whereas 25 percent program, over typical initiatives otten forcing the burden prior self-help self-help
adapted
"partnership"
upgrade programs, negotiating one of the first loans from the InterAmerican Bank for housing aid in Per-u."
Over time a variety concept emerged. of approaches to the basic self-help scheme. housing In this One variant was the roof-loan
and mutual-aid
programs,
on the labor of families to give up paid work. the construction families, cosls absorbed and mutual
involved volunteers,
speeding
approach, first developed by Abrams and Otto Koenigsberger as pari of a United Nations miss.on to Ghana ~n the 19505, families who had built the foundation and walls of a structure variant themselves was the "careof identical could followed
struggling
Moreover,
and orqanlzatlonat
fund, repayable
Another provided
for Humanity
organizational
skills of local churches to help set up and run its housing initiatives. This not only cut down on costs but also helped OVercome Local
resistance and potential sitlOg hurdles, published while guaranteeing guide entitled everything a steady Community from supply of volunteers Sell-Help
HOUSing
typically consisting
then expand these cores as time and money allowed. In the later years of Puerto model. Rica's sell-help this "care" Then in Fuller direction.
1982'" It included
have changed
and linda
of self-help Christian
selection guid€lines Humanity affiliate. Habitat housing secured The concept advocates, its success.
to instructions on seWng up your own Habitat for Perhaps more than anything else, however, it was ability to build a grassroots former President network of zeaLous that including Jimmy Carter,
for Humanity's
to build 42 homes,
partnership"
died before the first home was completed, for Humanity is considered the Fullers an American undertook
presented
their work, and in 1972 the Wortd Bank, drawing Turner, launched an urban lending initiatives. in land. secure
of Abrams,
that paved the way for slum-improvement in housing. the bank advocated and utilities and, in some cases, granting
Rather
investinq
their own was in Zaire [now the Democratic in 1973 they built 100 cement-block to America they officially
Republic Habitat
land tenure
~
::
..-
On returning
1961
formed
projects
the bank
""
R, Burkminster-
Fuller's
geodesic
The exhibition and publication of the sa me name celebrate the beauty of vernacular architecture, leading 10 a ren!;'weo appreciation for traditional building arts.
r.me'n~
domes. and other forward-looking ideas earn him the colter of Time meqaaine.
In
Lusaka,
Zambia.
Carried
Although
architects
participated
loans to residents
to an overspill
self-help housing programs, the very concept was a negation of the traditional role of the architect. Design was not perceived as adding value, Architects in the self-help housing model were mere trainers if not unnecessary inconveniences. As Turner, one of the movement's
most p rorni n ent advocates, put rt: makes a fool of himself, people, by by and third-hand does for him, and The certified assuming professional
i
:
often does a qreat deal of harm to other virtue of his schooling. All that second" exerciSing
and self-help
settlements. groups
Architects
such as Reinhard
knowledge
significant
rote in advising
and sites-and-services
the sitesand-services and self-help models promoted self-reliance over msntutional support. In terms of sheer numbers, at least, it was Unlike previous government-managed difficult to find fault with the approach" For example, Program, between funded by the World Bank, brought essential services to some 15 milllon people 1969 and 1984 the Kampung Improvement in Indonesia, However, Shortcomings and by 1996 Habitat in for Humanity alone had dedicated a some 50,000 homes
however, 4Sto reduce his ability to listen and learn about situations signHicantly ditferent from his own social and economic expedance-c-wlth consequences that can be tragic when he has the power to impose his solutions on those who are not strong enough to resist.~5 Onc€ again the relevance of design and of the design professional was called into question. It would require a new qenerarlon of architects, policy makers, planners, humanitarian aid workers, and
others would to bridge the gap between not only reaffi.rm of building design and policy. In dOing communities.
50,
they
The work of two mavericks stands out: Fred Cuny, who made the connection between disaster relfel and oavatopmant work, and Samuel Alabama low-cost operated shunned would "Sambo" Mockbee, whose thoughtful structures in rural brought the practice of architecture back to the desiqn of shelter. In many ways the two led parallel lives. Both men on an act"first-and"ask"permission-Iater by the establishments within by their charismatic, larqer-than-Lte relief basis. Both were and both personalities. shelter In most which they operated,
a political
Others pointed
be outlived
This resulted in homes so basic as to be almost Lessening their value over time. Program mandates to encourage green building or to mitigate And on the environment.
and
since World War II Tents were the standard was paid to camp planning.
did little
the
of human settlements
public housing-permanent
where-as provided
countries the military took the Lead In respondmg to emergencies, followed by_various housing ministries and other departments or agencies. For examp'le, In the United States no fewer than 1DO agencies were tasked with responding to disaster in one form or another. [It was not until 1979, when Carter created the Federal
and sites-andgrowth.
---.------------------------------------------------------------------ca. 19'10 New qcveroment-subsrdued low-cost housing in the Pbiuppmes [above] and
Brazil lbelowl. 197Z
AuthorilY
beqins
1'912
Freedom to Build
(
Emarqancv Management Agency, that the many responsibilities lor relief experts be drastically that t.he standard modes 01 shelter in handling provision natural needed 10 disasters.
~ disaster assistance and response were consolidated into a sinqle eqe-rcv.l" This led to duplicated efforts, cor-iplexity, and confusion.
What's more, little coordination existed between the nonprofit sector and qovernment agencies. As Cuny would later write: ~Most
overhauled-particularly
Enter Cuny, wh 0, in the wo rds of one c+arqe Texan who spent his life che si-iq
bicqra pher. was a "ta ketrouble.v" Cuny's first relief came when he volunteered
of lhe agencies operating at the time were oriented toward relief and charity. Development concerns were emerging, but few had yet seen a broader role for the voluntary agency. The favored relief approaches
stil! reLied mostly hiqh staff turnover, the basic response Designers shelter offered on short-term pattern of the staff and volunteers. wisdom
B@'CaU5E'
as a pilot lor the Bialran airlifts In 1969. The tragedy had begun two years earlier, when Nigenan forces cut off supplies to secessionist minorities in the country's southeast. CI.Jnyarrived as aid efforts were coming tu an end Troubled by what hed seen and seduced by·the adrenaline rush of dlse ster-rallef work, at tile age of 25 h€ founded his own for-profit called lntertect.Ilt dead panned." engineering East Pakistan
of into
Utile accumulated
was incorporated
agencies."41
consulting
sounded
'firm, Fred Cuny & Associates. later better than "Save Ihe Peasants," he once
I
advisor working as an to Oxfam for the BengaU aid operations where a cyclone
domes, but most were too costly or too cumbersome to implement. Prototypes far "instant housing" that had faiLed in one disaster would reappear he.icocters in slightly altered form in the context materials, of another. "[Architectsl or commercial were typically Interest. doinq these Darth Vader things with
i('l
and gee-whiz
people dead and millions more ber-reless. The disaster exacerbated the area's political instability, and the country descended into civil war, causing some 10 million people to Ilee. Arriving camps, that had sprouted up alonq the India-Pakistan was appalled comprised documentary by the disorganized described tangle of agencies response, emergency the international community's at the refugee border, Cuny and NGOs that A Fronlline supplies
eluded these people ..When you told them that you can build a house in Bangladesh in three days for tile same amount housnq. consultant they with 01 money they were proposing to spend an temporary
his reaction
this way:
ignored you.' recalled architect Ian Davis, a shelter the United Nations and a colleague of Cuny'S,4B Meanwhile, agencies-would to go unused tents-the because solution they arrived of be Shipped over great distances
or road repairs,
rotted In warehouses while people starved a few miles away. Refugee camps were constructed with no discernible thouqht to such basic matters as location or sanitation, others with the result were washed Were turned E5pecially oblivious cultures. jackets, the tropics 70s. Another hungry, 1973-76
,"l.lIb~tal f(lr Humanity buitds first project
that some had scant access to water, away in the first rains, while
away Irom homes, businesses, and livestock. At the same time studies began. to make a substandard housinq, increased urbanizatton,
still others
epidemics, studier 01
correlation between
and a comrnunuy's is almost by wrote Davis of
galling
consummate
vulnerability to natural dlsesters. "The study of disasters definition a study of poverty within the developing world." in his book Sheller Alter Disasler!19781.
local conditions-was
to the most baSIC facts about the region and its One relief agency had distributed apparently handed riot realizing with a median annual unaware that East Pakistan temperature-
the design, as opposed to the logistics, 01 emergency shelter." Yet in the reconstruction of housing in dsaster-orone areas, did aqencres paid <rant attention or er-vlronmental 1972 Polyurelhane'lgloo
M;l!$=ya, Nicarepua West Germa.n Red CIQ';:~ and 8~ye, Company
10 disaster impact
mitigation
in terms
of design, siting,
seemingly
provide
in MCisaya, near
CD
way of heating
the contents,
and
nor Hindus ate pork_52 Cuny began to develop He recognized political operations, ideas for the importance realities and families
cultural mores, could save both money and lives. Whereas most
camps at the time were designed noused in mllitary-styte barracks, in a grid, with multiple Cuny's design housed victims in
smgle-family tents clustered around open common spaces. Each duster had its own ~trines. cooking areas, and other basic services.
Nith the lightly thereby burdened, knit clusters Cuny hoped to encourage help prevent ownership, of disease preventing the campos infrastructure management. Nicaragua, in 1972 following from be~l"'Igoverthe outbreak
an earthquake
-esults pcannlng
·0
in
While nearby camps built by the US military making initiated for Dxfarn the population mass inoculations Oxfam Emergency Lice. Turkey, 1975 Osrem
House-Making Unit in
experienced
ca-np cottage
Cuny estimated
10
building supplies pioneered that could later be used for permanent housing. 1railblazing. It
WaS
development work, over the course of the next 20-odd years Cuny a od h;s associates at lntertect would rethink virtually every aspect of ;::saster families relief and
Others
core-hcusinq,
and
seismically
safer construction
reconstruction,
-! Guatemala
consultant making the connection between disaster and development. But the force 01 his personality. his ability to implement new approaches desiqn, under duress, the emphasis he placed on appropriate for publishinq working his with a wide Whafs officer ended local materials, and labor, his penchant consultant
in seismically
safer construction
techniques.
;J...ltLdoling disaster sites. removing debris. and bringing in imported -r-ateriels as was typically done, he encouraged aid organizations to
%
ii ~ ~ a
ideas, and his role as an independent ranqe of agencies more, his military candidate before aspirations poor grades
:.2.,. families
to
to out
for change.
.. ~-'CI temporary
And instead
with roofing
and other
''175
Ch:Rm Emerg~ncy
_-c=-. lu~key
...
HOLJose·Making, Unit
~7ati
2L2.419dead and
1976 Earth~uakeGuatemala Fred CUllYworks with Oxfam and World Neiqhbcrs to design housmg . pictcqrephe" to educate Buatemalans in safer buildinq techniques after a n earthquake there kills 23,000 people and il'ljureg another 76.000 .
j::""'C"'I'lyJ.cOllr:esyl'l'i!n¥Grk5
JBJ£.E"'.O
.l!SME:tOf{ .
PLAND.,.
which Cuny published postdisaster when you consider here, out of print. Community Design
in 1983,
IS
considered
the textbook
on cited
reconstruction-a
fact made all the more remarkable like most of the works
that it is currently,
Mear-whke, a movement
Influenced projects by the failure
toward
greater
community
engagement
public building
of architecture,
the environmental
movement,
some architects
bound to meet the needs of their clients but as stewards of the bUilt environment arid advocates for more sustainable development. In Europe the concept the 1969 Skeffington Britian. The report and made far-reaching legislation of community design can be traced published back to in Grea Report "People accepted and Planning,"
in planning subsequent
recommendations
became
required components 01 the statutory ptanning systsrn, prov.dinq local people with opportunities to comment on and object to development Fred CunY5urveys II UN vehicle that was damaged in an attack by gunmen in Mogadishu, Somalia, 1992. Three years Later, at the age of 50, he would disappear in Chechnya.
Judyw",lgrtn/[l;;.!la5 Momlf19 New:s.
applicatlons." DeCarlo
Architects
and Gianearlo
more responsive
project
in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
military personnel, giving him access to influential decision makers. In time Cuny became more involved with "complex emergencies," often in conflict
to drop in talk to with the design team and raise of the community with design movement in
concerns
America
or prov.diriq
carried
on the logistics
However, others to
By contrast.
Justice movements
and Lisa Dubin and groups like Oxfam, CHF, and shelterproject, name just a few. Cuny vanished remains unsolved. at the age of 50. on a mission and the mystery manner While his frank to Chechnya
leader Whitney M. Young, Jr., then executive director of the Urban League, opened the hundredth Convention of the American Institute Architects
in 1995.
His body was never recovered and his rule-breaking Cuny's influence altitude
You
bordered
and l am sure this dues not corne to you as any shock. You by your thunderous
and Development,
mare lhan one million people. 1'15 Earthquake Mexico City, Mexico
f'lLeye"oe,ker.Natiot'laIBurEilu
ofSlaOOllrds
complete
irrelevance
people in the planning the responsibility happen. According Community ernerqed It was carefully
of our cities today, You st-are are in .... lt didn't just get lhis situation. of the Association design Design Cenler for practice and
10 Rex Curry, former Design, the concept trom this meeting, professionals
The Cornrnur-ity
icnci
"The main difference between success a,nd failure is the degree to whi.ch poor people themselves are involved in determining the quality and quantity of the services they receive."
WorCdDevelopment Report, World Bank, 2004
where volunteer
provide architecture
olanning services to nonprofit neighborhood groups free of charqe." During the 19705 there were eighty CDCs sprinkled throughout the
country. The centers bra .... ht design through professionals, environmental site visits, or and with line in rural Alabama-people, over from Reconstruction:' not that Mockbee treated won dignity and respect, as Mockbee described them. radical "left was. them as
enqineers. government
design process, and interviews. -oarticipatorv selr-deterrnination usually
homeowners
with hard-
of self-reliance modelso
clients. As he wrote,
The professional challenge, in the rural American South or elsewhere
compelling
on design, technical expertise, and sustainablllty that came naturally to Samuel Mockbee.
at Auburn University in ALabama practice in in 1977, then a Catholic while in private Goodman in starting
architecture
with Thomas
Ihe- architectural
1983. He became
1982when
he helped
nun move and renovate condemned houses in Madison County. He house" there for $7,000 usinq donated and
and volunteer labor-a model he would University later the
that we can be as awed by the simple and that if we pay attention, what IS essential its honesty, "Love your neighbor an architect functioning as yourself." to the future
to Auburn
and founded
This is the most In doing so, which can likely to in the highbrow With its meager of decency
of combating the entrenched discrimination. substandard and poverty he saw around him, while giving architecture hands-on customized. embodiment so happened experience missing from most curriculums. earlier work, t~e Rural Studio built were as exuberant between
The homes
be buill upon ..Go above and beyond the call 01 a "smeothly help these who aren't help you in return, language of architecture. and do so even
as they were intensely they were the physical and client. It just were liv~ng on the poverty architect
if nobody is watching!58
?
"
'''9
Housing Vastu-Shilpa
"8.
'''0-''
Improved Resistant
~
Ql,lijnc:t"la- E.ar'hqU!!lke-
~ou5ing
Peru
or
115!u-'S.h.ilp~Ko.mcla~lQ-n
communal shelters.
ITDG Developed in re-5p{)nS~ ILl the eeethquake that struck in 1990, the
desiqn improves upon. traditional OlJincha building method; (in which walls are constructed from wooden
poles inhlled ..... smelt e r wccden ith poles] by adding roof trusses and makleq lhem more flexible end
materials
had invented
new palette.
received-critical Humanitarian
respect.
"Everybody wants the same thing, rich or poor ... not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul:'
Samuel Motkbee, architect
De!iiign Today During the 19805 and 19905 others also worked to bridge the
gap between communities. for what would Indore, India, providing In basic shelter and building sustainabLe neighborhood design sense. Foundation l10mes and an near lndore, replaced the scheme patios, and in and
1983 architect
Balktishna
become a vibrant,
mixed-income
by combining
models
the best of the sites-and-services with a more heightened included by the Vastu-Shilpa
seLf-help (founded
housing
The project,
by Doshi himselfl,
80 demonstration
township in Aranya Sank. the architect sites-and-service
urban plan for a new rnixad-incorne India. With funding unsympathetic designed other around with a cluster-based harmonizing Irom the World
to expand their homes progressively and to embellish 10 the project's tater pursued of Ludiya,
money allowed
demonstration
The foundation
success, by 1989 Doshi's original homes were selling for 10 times their criqinal price." an even more participatory in Gujarat, approach in hit Samuel Mockbee lcenterl with Ander50n Harrtslrlqhtl i31n,d family. tn 1991 the Rur'at Studio would build the Harrlses a home, affectionately catled the Butterfly House, and in return the Harrises would donate Land tor the Mason's Bend Chapel.
Timolhyl-'luJ'5.ley
2001.
that incorporated included a more sensitive low-income Townships development Larl in Pakistan: housing designed
by
the Alexandra
project
Interest in adapting technology to meet the needs of communities. tn Canada John Todd and the ways of treating Machine!. Technology waste naturally an-site In parts of the devetoping Development Groupl, founded 1993
MiSSissippi River USA Flood
tberetcre mare earthquake resistant In 1991 another quake destroys 17.000 homes. but the 70 locally whbstand the and built Improved structures Ihe tremor. demcnstratinq ettectiveoess of the design
19',
Rwandan Genocide kill Burundi, RW.<3lida,Tenzanla intl:'rahamw€ Hutu exu-amists
Niowestern
American Red Cross spends $44 mlllicn to help temitles r-ace v er; FE.MA creetes initiative prevent to buy or relocate future flood tosses. properties to
in 1965. worked
to improve
the everyday
of
such as
sake
adaptations
for technology's at
that relied on to new puttinq community and this led end to carrv
19705 planners
exhibitions
public participation
with enthusiasm,
10 reassess
out only the minimum work necessary. Public housing programs expe-lenc ed drastic funding cuts, and in America many community design centers, which had relied on tederst Likewise, disaster reconstruction efforts tundinq. shut down. were equally varied,
Two catastrophic
extremes which killed
earthquakes
in
particular demonstrated
the
The city
of response:
The first was the 19B5 Mexico City earthquake, earthquake hit densely recovered that struck populated longer: the industrial urban areas. According 10 Mary as
nearly 5,000 people and left 200,000 homeless. 6,300 people and leaving
After an earthquake struck Gujarat. India, in 2001, the Vastu ..Shitpa Foundation facilitated a eemmuntty-tee effort to reconstruct the viHage of Ludiya, Here, residents outside their newly rebuilt homes.
\tast<.i~hilpill"-oulld3Iion
100,000 beginnir1g that property owners would have little incentive to rebuild. Yet residents lobbied aggressively to stay in their neighborhoods, With lunding a number from the World Bank and loans and concessicns Monetary Fund, Mexico responded the largest of which. to build or repair programs, from the International
while recovery
Dissster itits
by establishing
Renovacion more than 48,000
of housing
The Mexico City quake measured 8.1 on the Richter scale and lasted approximately two minutes. It leveled 2.3 square miles 16 sq. kmJ in the historic center of the city. which also happened to house the city's government buildings, A second quake Ihe next day compounded buildings the loss of lile and material or partially collapsed. damage. Hardest More than
Hahltar lon Popular, housing units This ambitious level community program.
was mandated
undertaking
combined displaced
600
renewal areas
§.
~
completely
where
earned
them to low-interest
extremely
covered by insurance,
it was
parks, alleys, and other rights-of-way near their damaged homes while they worked with their neiqbbors to repair their community, ~ 2001 g Earthquake
N Ludlya,
G~oph1~;c~' Data
vastu-Shilpa
Cerlter
175,0.00people are killed and more Ihar'l an-e million people in 13 countries are displaced
Reconstruct
developed
includinq
by community some
members
officials structures
mitigation
measures.
New
2BO architectural and engineering firms, and were based on a prototypical two-bedroom apartment unit In a three-story building with a single entrance gate.
specialists. to Comerio, by standarcizinq tho building design, the city
to retrofit
unreinforced
install
masonry buildings
buitdings,
bolt
flood
to their foundations,
According
as many as 800 building permits a month arid a singte team of inspectors could monitor construction." In total the qover unent repaired or built nearly B8,aOO housing units over the COLJrse of two years. "Neiqt-oors together with their neighbors and animated by healthy SOlidarity, organized spontaneously
and preventing
to naturat disaster;
elficiently, were able to salle lives, put an end to misfortune. rebuild the city and create a promising future," wrote a reporter for
Excelsior in a retrospective published 13 years after
Conclusion
A century the world's after the San Francisco displaced earthquake, the solution to houslog this and disenfranchised remains as stubbornly
the newspaper
large gaps in the social net of one of the world'S of 1,5 million, sixth-largest were
book, a series of tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes reminded the world once again how vulnerable and unprepared we are aqairst the awesome powers of nature-whether we rive in t.he world's
poorest country or its weaitluest. on average The Red Cross estimates and manmade by disaster world. disasters, that over and another than 98 the the past two decades, been killed annually 211 million percent reports number more than 75,000 people have each year-more What's of disasters-and climbed," continue
sixth-tarqest
residential,
the city's economic importance meant that its commercial infrastructure was the first to come back on line. In the disaster's aftermath parking residents the government by lottery, in built 48,000 temporary housing units in lots and on undeveloped land and filled them with displaced of people still lived in of factors. for
by natural
that over the last decade the number by disasters-has UN-HABITAT substandard
metal crales
Likewise, systemic
plague the world's billion The agency projects Fortunately, the ubiquitous
housinq conditions
estimates urban population,
to
Kobe's slower
natural disasters. A reliance on the private market to recover tosses also contributed to the slow pace 01 rebuilding. Also, many blamed
the decision residents' to work, by city authorities neighborhoods. them from their to place temporary hindering social networks. housing outside
we .150 live in a time when technology, particularly Internet. has enabled the rapid exchange of ideas on scale, Groups such as Slum Dwellers and exchange countries, in differer!lt lnternatlonet rncoets of development CAD software
former
isolating
families
an unprecedented between
them from tappinq local resources to solve their own housing crises,&'5 But by far the biggest failure was that or the international aid community success and officials in Japan to learn from the mistakes and a
Mas
made professional design services more affordable and enabled architects to volunteer their services in communities near and far. At the same lime, computer advances promoting modelinq systems have led to technical buiLding design.
of other cities in coping with disaster, the Mexico Clly and Kobe earthquakes,
hurricanes, and other disasters did prompt
sistant
Mis9issippi
Ka trlna
Mississippi, Atabema, USA
Mi5Si!>slppi
on "illegal structures." Iercmq stum dwellers to [ear down their own dwellings throuqhout tne country Nearly 600-,000
people are left homeless. condemns UN-HABITAT program sullering, as the- slum-clearance to human
Developed by architects at the Carl Small TOwn Center. pa-ri of tfte College of Architecture. ,Art, and Deslqn at Mi$$i~~ippiStale untversny.
#
thiS self-sutlicient.
sctar-powered
Orleans kit! an estimated 1,325 mare than one million pe-opLeo are displaced from the Gulf Coast reglor"i Emergency officials respond b~'brinqinq mare than 50,000 travel
A wider appreciation
-nrnqatlon :otlaboration aeveloprnent Development - Development, Foundation, Planners between profiled Network,
of design in disaster has spurred in community Frontiers, greater In addition to design and Architecture Fuller
and community
and communities.
The Engineering Unit of the Thai Army erected temporary housing in Ban Nam Kaern, Takua Pa province, Thailand, following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004.
Rc stan Rdhmarl/AFP/G(lI!~ Images
Architectes Without
the Buckminster
Institute, Builders
Building
century
be remembered
as the
Association
for Community
the Enterprise
golden era of socially conscious design? The answer will likely depend on the willingness of architects and designers to reach beyond the design community humbly Mockbee venture Ihe needs of their neighbors, and Its traditional
In
audience-to As Samuel
Architects'
a more innovative
the
2005
At riqht, F'SMA tag on the door of a home in New Ori@ansindicates it has been. searched
to outstrip for survivors
as winter
Pholo
appro-aches.
GlJn-""('Ifl'ht~r/AP
1 '-The 53n Francisco Earthquake, 19Q6," Ey~Witne5s to History, WNw,eyewitnesstonistory.com, lueldentttted dire-clod, Before and
After Ihe Grt:a( car1hqu<lKe and Fire:
dir.. A.rchtlectures. 4- DVD series. Strasbcurq. Arte, 2003. to Amerlcao Planninq sseccrenon. "Individuals Who lnfluenced PLarlncflg Before 1978," http://'HWW,plalnning orgI25anni\ier$ary/infllJentials.htm.
ThilOHY Bar-rel, 11 Le Corbusrer. T(Jwerd~ a New NY: Dover Ardtllec!urc, Mineola. Bocks, 1985.
Berkeley: University Press, 2005, 209. 4 Barracks were also erected. but a study later determined they wrne
costly and inettactlve. Chartes
or
1 ~06, California
of
O'Connor er at.,
San FriJndsLrJ
Relief
Survey; The OrganlzS'lia(J.aM i'4e!hods of Relief Used Af'leirhe Earthquak~ afld Fire ofApnl18, 1906, New
vcrk.
Survey
Associates. 1913, 239. Ibid., /l. Ib,d .. B4 Ibid. 8 San Francisco was MIllie First r;ity to devetoo new building strateqles in the Face of disaster: For example, when an
earthquake and subsequent tsunami
12 S~gfrled Gi-ediolli. W"UerGropius, Mineola, NY~ Dover- Books, 1992, 79 13 J. BaldWin, Bucky WOrks: Buckminsrer Fu11ersldeas for Today. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1996. 32 U Carol Burns et at. "Nenutactcred H(jouo;in9~ Double Wide AnatySis, A hltp:llwww·9sd.har.rard,~du/sh.Jdros/ $97Jburns/incle)(.hLml. 15 Robert Bennefield and Robert Bonnette. Structural and Occupancy
CharJ(rerisllcs o( Housing: 2000,
21 Catherine Bauer had been influenced by wetter (3;roplus and' the German SChODL.o' modernists during trips in the '20s and '30s to Europe. wh-ere she was inspired by the power of doesigli to promote social change. When she returned to the United States she was shocked by the cCtnditions she tound and became a; passionate hcusi ng advocate. In 1934 sbe wrote lhe book Modern Housmg, in which she described the Europ-ean planmng and housing strategies she had seen, and applied them to. an Ameiic<ln context. Modern housing. s.fu: argued. needed to be planned, bl,lill ~IQwly '0 reduce spaculatton. and available to ell citizens reqaroless of income. Peter H. Oberlander and Eva Newbruo,
Houser: The Life and Work ot CiJth~rine Bauer, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 1999. 22 Kerr)' D. vandett, "FI1A Re$trl.!'during Proposals: Alternatives and Implications." Housing Poli~yDebate, Fannie Mae Fcundeticn. vol. b, issue 2. 1995.299-394. 23 Chanes Abrams, The Future of Housmg, Ne"", York: Harpe- &: Brothers, 1946 24 Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Oyke. The City, New York: American Documentary Film, Inc., 1939. 25 Ian Davis. Shelter After DiSaster, Lcndcn. Oxford Polytechnic Press, 197B. B7. 2.6 Robert Rub~iI. "jean Preuve," Yale School of Architecture, 2005. http;!/ www.architecture.yal.e.edu/trQpical_ hcuse/eeseyhtm. 27 Designed by entrepreneur Carl Strandlund. the Lustron Home was an inqsnious but short-lived expenment
In
28 Peter- Hall, ··Living for Tomorrow, Melropo{;S M~gaz.ine. Dec. 2002, www. metropolisma,9·otam/htmVcontef1t_ l-202/mit/, 29 The estate has since be-come a wett-beeted. upper-micdle-ctass neighborhood, in part dee to the cache 01 Preuve's designs. ALex Kliment, ·PrM<lb: House as M;JSS Customized Product. The Architectural Leaque. 2003, hUp)J www.archlea911e,Qr9/le~tures/ 30 Ehartes
(Dr
and fires destroyed a third of mediev,:U Lisbon In 1755, reconstruction led to cne o-f the earliest e)(ampts-s af rnodern sarttrquake-prcot constructrcn. the 9<3lDla, a flexible wooden cage formed by diaqcnal trU5,5;e5;reinforcing a hcnzontat and vertical wooden lrarrte. According to lore, architectural models were built to lest the new construction
m-ethod by ITlarc:hing troops-around
them 10 simulate the effects of an eanhqu<lke The buildings and public squares of the reconstructed city stilletend todaoy. Kenneth Maxwell, "lisbon: The Earthquake of 1155 and Urban Recovery IJnder tfl€ Marques de Pombal," in Joan Ockman, ed., Ground Zera- Case Srudiesl(J Urban Reinvention. Munic:h: Prestel Verlag, 2002.31.
Washington, DC: US Census Bureeu. Nov. 2M3, www.census.gov!pra.d/ 2003pu bslc2kbr-32,pd f 16 Carol Burns. "Manufactured f-Iou:;;ing: A Double Wide Analysis of Clockwork and Cloudwork,·· Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Graduate Schuot 01 Design, 1997. hltp:/lwww.gsd.harvarcLedu/ s.tudios/s97/burl"l5/intro.htrnL. 17 Sears, Roebuck and Co., "Chronology of the Sears Modern Homes Proqram," hltpJ/www.searsarchlves. ccm/nomea/chrcnotoqy.htm. 181he Malt-Order HClIJse,· CBS News Sunday Mn-ming, Aug. 24, 2003, http://www.r::.bsnews. com!5toriesI2003/05/14/SLJnday/
mam553963.$l1tml. 19 Sears, "Cbrcnctoqy" 20 Sandra
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 1'166, 160. 31 See http://www.freeenierpriseland corn/BOOK/UTILEBOXES,htrnt. 32 It was tater determined that the bUilding. called RQIian POint. was structurally unsound. Kenny Shaw, From Here to Madernily, london: BBC/The Open University, hllp:/I'NYJVt' op.ef12.net/modernityl http://news
bbc.co"uk/onthisday/h,/dates!sforiesJ
Fundamentet
Research,
http://theary.
tjfr.res.in/bombay!.;mellitl-es/hQusing,
Rihs and Denlet Katelt, "The of Slum Clearance Policies in London and PSrtS," United Nations Centre for Human Settlements [UNHABITATI .v ol.1, r'io,3. Sept.
Evolution
slurn-stats.html. 3S Abrams. rhe Future of Housing, 129. 36 The first "sell-help and mutual aid" project in America tooll. place In the coal-mining areas of Pennsylvania
dLJnng- rtre Depression. In the wake
low-cost
housinq.
The homes
zoot.
we["e made from pcrcetein-cceted steel panels mounted on a steel frame. Th~)' w~rf! advertised as being rodent-proof fire·proot.lightnin9proof. rustproof and maintenancetree. Each dwelling cost $7.000. but menutacturinq qlftcbes led to cost overruns. Despite a qcvernrnent commitment of $&0 million, only 2..498 units were ultimately produced, and the government torectcsen 011
the company in 1951. Although some
of mass unemplojmerrt at the mines, the program sought 10 bring unemployed mine workers living in slum conditions "back 10 the farm" by paying them to build their own housing Peter M. Wa,do Self~Help Housmg;A Crilique, London: Mansell. 1982,2-6
current owners have compared living dw~lIin9' 10 li ..... ing In a "lunchhox," the survlvinq homes have earned a cult foLLowing.Douglas Knerr, SlJburban St!!f.. r;,~M.;Ignificent
jn the manufactured F.aflur'e Df Wf! Lustron 1945-1?51, Unjversit~ Cotumbvs: Coroorenon. Ohio
State
Press, 200'.
37 Hassan Fathy,
Arrhiledure
46
the 1920s-30s a series of HIlcludil'1g th-e Mississippi River flood of 1921, which inundated an area almost as large as New England and left 700,000 peop-le homeless, and the Long Beach, Ca.mornia, earthquake of 1933. which caused a number of school
During disasters buttdinqs to couapsel prompted to
51 Scott Anderson,
ro Salle lIJe Wodd, House. 2.000> 71.
Ccnqress
.40 Robert WilLiam Stevens arid Hebltat for Humarlity, eds., CQmmunity SelfHelp Housing Mailual. Parlnership in Ac~iorl, Croton-on-Hudson. NY: Intermediate Technol'O~ Development 'G'f"OUp of North 41
Institute. Oct. 2"002, httpo://'W'INW. rtpi. Qrg.l,Jk/resour("l;'s!plJb ~i(;:!1ion'5/ ot:l:lmmunity-pt30rmin-g/Olnomehlml 54 Mary C. Come-rio, "Design and Empov,rerfn"!'l")t 20 Y~Qrs Q!
Community Architecture." Buill Environment Oxford: Alexandrine Press. vol, \3, no. 1,1987.15 55 Jon Coaffee and Chris Brccktebank Byker Urban Design Ccrnpetitior» D~\'t:~oping ~ Statement of Community lnvolvement," Newca5tlf'
CHy,U Excelsior, Sept 20. 19"98, http://www, tencrissimo. comldomingo/ArtidesJe)(ceL9209B. htrn. Foshizo ldo Igoovernor of Hyoqo Prerecurrel. "t.earnlnq to U v e with Risk." World Corrterence on Disaster Peouctiorr. Kobe, JaQ{!i"I. by
Mexico Jan 1a,2005
at disaster-mitigati-on and relief The Reconstruction Finance Corporation g<lv,," disaster 1(J1mo;:for
repair and reconstruction of certain
public facilities.
Enqlceers control Bureau
1'982. It was Intended that the squatter community help defrav the costs of the new services by payinq for water usage and other services and
America, by repayinq thcuqb, their loans. Ultima.1cly, were
6.:i Michael Zietenziqer, "Kobe Stitl Peets frum Earthquake: M(!nyare Hornetess. Gecernrnent Leqs." San JO'"eM~uryNe""5,J.iln, 20,1997, IA
ss Davrs.Jnterviewwrth 6b Between Stehr; '2000 arid 200~ dlsesrers
OlJle:l;;teQ une-tnkd more people lhan between "1995 and 1999 lntematienal Federation of the Red Gress, Wtl.{d Dj~MJ},n; RepQrt 2005, [able- 3, 196 67 -Millennium Development Goats." '2003, UN-HABITAT, http://www.
qiven for
slow to pay their loan installments and resent-ed being charged lor s-ervices
many residents If We,ellihy Lusekans to pay for did f'IL11 have
natural dlseeters.
Still.
as
in
by most
later ewerded Young the Medal of Freedom 'or his civitrights work. 1968," Archvokes. July '11, 2003., hHpd!WWlN.ardlvoices.org.
57 Brvan SSlIl, ed., rJo<Jd Deer.h, De5fgn: Community Architecture, Architectural Press, Samuel Mockbee. Good Service Through 2004, 63.
LJnhab[tat,org/mdgl
basis. arid assistance to lndlvlduats was considered largely the domain of voluntary eqencies and private
charilY Congress did not establlsf "~t:MA Hi5il(JI)',·' Management a
58
coordinated
Federal
"Architectural Design: The Everyday and Architecture, 'l '198, http://W\NW ruratstucio.corn/sambomernorlal
n
Emergency
ezploslcn "Lusaka
(If Site'>
http://\'IMW.
sh 1m
59
squ<'III"1"'eettkements.
and Services Project,"
Upgradil1';J
Dallas: lntertect
19
Press, with
11
"Architect's Record Community Housinq," Geneva: Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 199"5.
Doshi designed a master ptan
case-exam
1.2 Nabeel
Hamel.
SO Sherry Jones,
American,"
19"97, www.pbe.crq.
&\.3Ibid .. 2.0.
44 Ward, Set/-Help
devetoprnent. Homes, whlch mctude bekonies and look onto a. shared courtyard, ere grouped ill cll)s.ers of ten along a centra! sprne. Septic tanks are provided lor each 9 IOUp of 20 houses. arid electricity and water
<Ire available thrnuqheut. The f1i".W
45
Turner
anc
1,7.
New PoNc,y for Urban Housing Rewvery, Berkl:'~ey: UI);v-er$ily or Califomia Press. 1998. 129
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In war-torn countries and areas devastated by disaster, the presence of UNHCR tents is one of the first signs of aid.
[)esigners have tried to rethink structures this basic tent for decades. prefabricated Every1Ming from to shipping But as the agency
suggested
or attempted.
before these systems even arrive. Some tent alternatives are perceived as "too
permanent," host fora refugee difficult making to return them difficult to site In
End client_Refugees,
Sons
x 9.8,69
first. Depending
to./41.5 kg
be the response
However, in cases where local materials are not available to build more permanent structures, where families cannot find
shelter within the community provides more durable a ridge-style or are alternativesdisplaced for tonger periods of time, the or cer-ter-pcte-doubte-
UNHCR
typically
fly tent made from canvas. Yet these canvas tents are not only heavy, cumbersome to
carry, and costly to ship, but because canvas rots they deteriorate quickly and cannot be stockpiled tor Ionq periods. Wear and tear on the weakened material in the field Significantly the shelter. In 2002 the dispatched shortens the useful lifespan of began testing a new
UNHCR
design for the baSIC family tent it regularly to areas of crisis. The agency's
technical emergency
support,
supply
rnanaqement,
dlvisions of several
and
ca n be an explosive
and security
developed
specifications durable,
combination, often increasing the incidence of the physical abuse of worn-ell and children. To mit~gate such violence, the designers created a fabric partition to divide the tent.
creating children, create a sem iprivate The partition a semipublic space where worn en can change and parents can sleep away from can also be used 10 to care
above lett Standard UNHCR canvas tents shelter Sudanese retugees in Eastern Chad in 2004. If stockpiled for too tong the canvas rots, shortening the useful lifespan, of the tent in the field.
1-1. CamtUW·ICR
canvas. precursors. But bE'CaU5El tents can cost a 5 much to sh i P as to make, the primary consideration was one. of volume in terms
of both weiqht and size. "We are tetklnq in terms of 50,000 to 100,000 tents,' explained Ghassem Fardanesh, a physical planner in the UNHCR Technical Support Section who helped specifications The resulting spearhead the project 'Even when we hit the riqht design, some of the didn't come easily." design employs a tunnel
workspace
for the
above rlqht The lightweight Em-ergeney Tent in use in Meuhlboh, West: Sumatra, after the Indian Ocean tsunami (If 2004. The tents are arranged at an angle to- prevent those in facing tents 'from being abLeto see inside when the flaps are opened.
1;,l"an:j.aM5-h/tit'lI1C~
by the tsunami of December 2004, But it could be years before the lightweight traditional it's really new, and The tent surveillance
shape to maximize headroom and usable 'pace, An Inner tent With a 'bathtub" Liner provides insulation and flooring, to guard Air against
model replaces the UNHCR's canvas tent. "In our business difficult
opposite 113ft Cumbersome canvas tents required as many as four people to,tarry, A man transports the new dasign 1)1'1 the back of.a bicycle in K':reungSabe, Indot1'esia. The tent packs in a .carrying case and can be easily erected.
G,F<lWilll;;-",h/UI1,",cR
20 years, This is a newborn baby," said who considers the tent a work
and expects it will undergo a tweaks and other before for the il is fully adopted. of manufacturing
opposite right The new tent's partition affords refuaees and displaced families, a modicum of privacy
G, Fl!n;"a~E-5.h/LIt1I1CR
closer to other tents, Because it is materiafs, the tent can be stockpiled in greater quantities. and its
made from synthetic smaller volume and weight 191 pounds. [41.5 kg] compared with 176 to 242 pounds [80 to
lightw.,ght Emergency
l' 0 kglforlraditional
canvas versionsl
saves on shipping costs and allows for easier ""tandling. II even comes in its own "handbaq.'
http//Www.iapsoorg
'~ "
"In our business it's really difficult to say, " have something new, and let's replace [the old version]: The tent we have now has been under surveillance for 20 years. This is a newborn baby."
Gh.ssem Fardaneah, senior physica I planner, UN
Q
HeR
,. .
••
Intervle"
team_Steven
in.!
clinic set up by the nonprofit International Medical Corps in Uganda using the Shetter Frame Kit A health
WarldSIleLter:;;
I developed building
was a combination
of Japanese
and Mexican
We
traditional
techniques. tutorial
That must have been interesting. What was it like worlcin9 wilhBu<ky? He was someone you could spend an hour with anc then have a
month's hewould worth of work to do. He had an amazing Ithink way of asking the question that lor on satient question. would take me high schools. that was the key for me. It was just the way
take the work I was doing and ask the salient design science
one part of which Was developing tenseqrlry. tensile When I finished Berkeley, company tents. structures. my program
"Then, we had lunch with Fast Eddy. He saw what we were doing and how dialed it was. He said, 'Tomorrow we are going to meet at my office. I am only going to take 20 percent off the top. I've got all the channels worked 'out, and here is how it"s protected: We looked at each other and said, 'We cannot go to this meeting. Time to get out of the country ." •
Bruce LeBel. World Shelters
with Fuller,
my wife and I moved to in backpacking USAID sheetinq brought material. and When we found OUI about this male rial, we in samples
and I went to work for The North Face, which was the first that used Fuller's principles of "tenseqrity" of The North Face.
developed the first flex-wand backpacking tent. That's the basic technotogythat we still use (or our disaster relief shelter; We still buy clips from Bob [see ""GripCllps"l
we found that USAIOwas distributing this to disaster sites. we thought. well, this is. just reaL clear. Not only is It an excellent material. but u's already there. Whal we realty need is shelter frame kit without the sheeting field With the sheeting extraordinary sheeting We hired Roy brought manager matenal
Fr~me Kit come into being? Was ;!something you started white you were alThe North Face? A colleague I had known through work with Fuller. Steven Elias. also
How did had experience [Offic-e of Foreign dOIng disaster relief work. He had a little business to lcosa Village. a division lnc.! The OFDA af lr e United States called lcosa Domes. (Nole: Unrelated Disaster Assistance, Development Agency for International
IheShelter
a desiqn that will operate as" material and have it made in the
this
it to the program
setting here are ~ ~
I:"
in Guatemala,
logistics. cardboard shipping
And, here we are out on the tront tawn of the Slate Department this thing up, and they are sort of gnashing these young turks from California
difficult.
of OFDA comes dawn while were just about to set this thing up, and it .ust went up so Jast.ltwas beautiful tnc way it went up, And the director says, "We really need to rnctude So there we competition this shelter shelter: in the evaluation that we're doing." national
.~ ~
So we started
How did you come up with the idea of using stan~ar" sheeting rather than SUpplying your own <overing?
It was a phone calL We were exploring materials andwe and decided that USAID would probablybea
reliel pl.stic
What was the competilion aILabout? Wer,.t~ev testing different designs? They were doing a competition to procure tent supplies fer-various
relief operatlcns. After winnowing down the entries in the national various and going lhrough competition company. a bidding process, they decided to do a fletd test in El Salvador and
shculd find out what they use. We then lound there was a fellow this would have been In 1984. who had done a for USAID on temporary [thatl developed shelters. This was right for the to get going, loa. He put us in the specifications
So now we're
'or
filters,
equipment
at the time that Fred Cuny was starting contact with the supplier
.. _.
centers. ho
IS
So we get the call from USAID about this, and we say, "WelL, to be
working
arid in.
going
the evaluator?"
"This
breaking
from their
the outdoor
equipment
So, we thought.
is interesting.
are
because
El Salvador
callinq
Why do you think th,at is? with shelter is that the logistical
issues totally overwhelm the designs, Once people are living someplace, perfectly for six months the materials
were
essentially Frankly,
In particular. land
Salvador
the
through
they aren't going to and the next day turn into are onLy a smaH part of
I think theywere
move unless they've one that will perform dust. Ours lasts two The geometry. the total package,
evaluator. who actually ends up writing some objective reports, And we take some photcqraphs of how the plastic sheeting on its own was being used, which for the most part was nothing more than using it as a lean-to, or draping it over walls Of roofs that had holes in it. They'd hangl il between trees. It was just
We spend some time with the draped. There was absolutely reinforced Howdid the validity no structure to it at all. So it very much of the concept behind the Shelter
leave,
the dimensions.
Frame
Kit.
To me, it's really not only having an ability to solve the logistical problems but also being able to maximize the use of locally available materials and labor. You can make World Shelters shipping in nothing more than what I refer to as "user-friendly live ware." ALL you need is to ship in one of our associates, and as long as there is
cord, sheeting, supporting and some kind 01 pole material, we tan produce selfstructures get the
to your design?
from that experience, During the time we had available whi le Ihe shelters we re clearing customs, we were following the trail of where aid money goes and discovering now little of it gets used foraid and how much of it gets siphoned off. It was really extraordinary to see where so much of the moneywas going. Basically.
power structure was siphoning it out and getting the money
kit into'the
field?
it was
the military
we got a call from the group thaI was doing the next test for OFDA. Once again there was a set
out of the country. We met this fellow, very high up, We Commerce, seven Fast Eddy, who was very well connected. given his name by
of specifications
commitment of
of units.
product,
The our
were
the
American
Chamber
as happened
in the
and after we held lunch with this fel~ow, after beingthere having put together willl
previous go eround-v'Thank
a whole
scenario
for
'have, been
cut." smart at that point. Even though entrepreneurs. task. It's not a we Because
Low-tech
We started
getting
mean, it only took scenario were doing and the channels And
us a week,
out-then,
we had lunch with Fast Eddy. He saw whatwe off the top. I've' got Time to get but it wasn't
50-year
five-year
how
task. One day it will happen, but we can't bank on it. do we gOlt it to the NGOs. when sheller everybody's
So we
I am onLy goijn'Q to take 20 percent worked out. and here is how its
all
protected,"
scrarnbllnq,
and we thought,
we should
out
a nonprofit ourselves.
In 2002 we started Through to somejoint !International working tundraisinq, with the Buckminster Fuller Institute. clinics, we were able to get units out to IMe used them as temporary which put some units along as
"Ie left, And that was it. Never did see one of our structures
go lip. 50 we
learned What
an extraordinary
amount, just
about
you
think,
the
Jordanian
lie folLowe·d the test and Ne got reports :esiyn. ::lt -a"e
hold
in IKosovo lor redevelopment activities ..They were used people who we re dorng construction OJ nd as Ie mporary
people until they could move into their new homes. How:muc.h did you r,aise and how many sheLters
unfortunately then the feedback from OFDA was "Our budgets been cut. We are not going to be buying any of these tents that , e thought we were going to be buying thousands 01." And the same
itself 15 years later,
10 produce?
We raised about $20,000 to $25,000, and With that we were able to as part of the first OFDA
produce
and distribute
about 50
25-square-meter
[269-sq.=tt.]
sheLters-including
shipping,
That'5 the thing that so many people don't reaLize" Shipping can be half the cost of manlllf,acturing the unit5, if not more. That's one of the things that we're working on right now. We're trying to put tcuether production facilities and warehouses, managing the logistics from start to finish. The other re<lliy important part of design is not just having a product but having an organization, taking the responsibility to create an organization that is going to make it happen, All of the issues around designing and initiating and coordinating and building are handled by non profit organizations, and I've discovered them to be just critical. Since we spoke with LeBel. World Shelters hes gone on 10 provide
emergency strli'lter to the Red Cross after Hurricane the Gulf Coast of the United States, to International Uganda, and in rhe tsunami-affected areas of indonesia. it has also provided shelterin Katrina pounded Mediciil[ Corps in and Banda Aceh. the Andaman
World
After the Indian Otean tsunami of 20Q4, Shelters' structures were Llsed by ,a monastery in Sri Lanka. The Sllelter Frame Kit is intended to "tum sheeting into shelter." The design tali<es advantage of the plastic sheeting supplied by the Unite,d Nations, l.ISAJD, and other agencies to disaster areas. The kit includes S-hooks, PVC pipe, cord. guy lines, anchor stak'es, dips, connectors, and a pic:torial instruction manual.
World S ~lters;
... ...
:t:
C
oil
3'
" ..
Sri Lanka
India {including
• •
GripClips
Lo.cation_Various Dafe_1975-present
It would be safe to say that few people know the ins and outs of tents better than Robert Gillis.
Not onLy did he design the first geodesic backpacking tent, based on Buckminster
of relief projects.
Cosl_$8-' 0 [set of 41
it. But puncturing it is a bad idea because it weakens it The material deteriorates less if you don't injure it." The designerwent through
more than 10 different arriving at Ihe GripClip, iterations belo re and ties it
Fulter's ideas, for The North Face in the 19705, but he also lived in a collection of tents (with his wife and three children] for more than 20 years-aLL ofwhich he designed
himself. including the tent that housed the J'amiLywashing have stemmed machine. from efforts to improve his he
that clips onto any type of sheeting to a frame, Reducing fundamentaL the sheeting the shelter element, to its most
the connection
between
ALthough many of GiLLis's tent innovations own living conditions, saw the potential emergency plastic sheeting sheLter-in from the beginning particular
desfgn a number
for translatinq
tunnel-shaped
can be covered
with one large sheet of material, these tents are less stable in the wind than dome-shaped rents. Using GripClips, Gillis found he was aole to layer sheeting in shingles to create a ""'lore stable structure' that would also shed 'din. "And I didn't have to sew it or heat-weLd : or any thing," he recalls. "Here was the eerfect thing: It was tolally wonderful." More recently Gillis has focused on :reating dips and fasteners to attach plastic sheeting to ro-ofs, frameworks, piping, or plywood, allowing familiesto turn damag'ed structures into transitional homes while T1ey rebuild.
opposite
A Gripittip. secured to a cross-piece of frame, shown from inside a shelte~. 'The frame pieces are secured with plastic wrap. above GripCLip's two plastic parts are designed to be twisted together with a piece of sh'eeting tHaween them. The clip i.lset! can be fastened to oil frame structure with plastic lies, rope, or pi,pe clamps, right Robert Gillis inside a tent built with GripC~ips.
All p.nll-tQgra.phs @'WWW_d.ometen150.t.om
•
BOLD (Building Opportunities a id Livelihoods in Darfur)
Location_Darfur Province, Sudan International
Date_2004-5
'Qrgilnization_CHF
End dient_Displaced
Design team_Scott
populations in Darfur
MlJlraom'Y, Isaac Boyd Hill
Additiol1al l:onsultant_R.ichard
One of the difficulties relief organizations often encounter working in areas of conflict is finding a balance between a host community's desire to prevent refugee camps from becoming permanent communities and the needs of refugees for income generation and community building,
BOLD IBuilding in Darfurl-a launched for families succeeds the in Opportunities and Livelihoods lack of work and food in the camps meant that wamen were traveling exposing themselves outside the camps in search of fueL wood, potentially to physical or sexual attack. an income of 250-500 Sudanese dinars temporary displaced in striking housinq initiative International projects that by civil war in western
2004 by CHF
($1-21 per day, enough to buy chickens and eggs and add an important source of protein
to their diets. The shelters pe rmanent.
a balance between
two,
cobbled together from
At the time many people in the camps were Hving in shelters cardboard were difficult and plastic sheeting, "The tents
on the existing
2004, The
empLoyed camp
more important,
by
they
surrounding
helped to improve camp life in other ways. step up." said Grimes of the would like to see these design. "Everyone
and poorly ventilated. It just wasn't a great scurtion." explains Elin Grimes, OJ project coordinator, Whafs more, the plastic s: eeting used to construct them, while .vaterproof, degraded extreme and tore quickly nl under North Africa's heat. At the same time
to weave mats. Those mats were provided Darfur, where grass was scarcer,
sheLters modeLed on traditional rskubss. Constructed from bamboo frames, the shelters were lashed toqether by cord
recycled from rubber tires. The progra~ employed oftnem some 3,000 people, 85 percent Each weaver produced them with one women,
the government
government
shelters
w ~Il[he displaced
ore permanent
to build community
Furthermore,
:i' ...
..
...
::z:
r::
• ..
w ,-
'" o
above
The mats 'Were woven in the south, where grass is plentifuL, and Were Used lo,cally as well as transportedl to thearicl regions in the north, where grass does not grow.
tseec Bo)'d
opposite Women and men hang woven mats from a frame to make a shelter.
Isaac BD~d
It's often said that only from great complexity does simplicity emerge. This was certainly the case with the Global Vi llage Shelter by Ferra ra Desiqn.] nc.
The father-dauqhts r d I3sig n team be hind th is several years, this is not their intent, "'The shelter is designed with a definite Mia Ferr8ra.ln that the shelters limited tact, were sheilf life," explains she says, an official expressed designed concern
basic folding refuge experimented wilh more than 100 different configurations before
arriving solution
at an elegant.
simple,
10 providing temporary
Made from
Iaminated
corrugated
"to last too long." Structures can often remain years after associated and sometimes
by two
people using onlya set of diagrams tools. It is designed comfortably, explains Mia Ferrara, The corrugated
leading to problems
with poverty, "This is often caused by not moving to the next step in the relief efforts," notes Ferrara. for this." "The temporary nature
lob I Village S t rs
Lo£atioR_ Grenada Date_ 1995-2()05 Design firl1:l~Ferrara Design, Inc, Design team_DarnieL A Ferrara, Jr.,
Mia Y. Ferrara
cardboard, strength,
to allow the units to be folded for sase of tra nspert. Daniel Ferrara tens of thousands began develo pi ng prototypes in 1995. Soon afterward, of Tutsis began to flee of the folding shelter
Rwanda, crow-ding refugee camps in Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire. Hoping to provide shelter to these refugees, Ferrara researched manufacturers turned to produce his design. As it had the capacity 10 in sheets Large design company's needs, The idea
Milteria~ development_Ferrara
WeyerhaeusE!r, Inc, Manufacturer_Weyerhaeuser, Weyerhaeuser,
500 to 1,000 te nts. Still, Mia Ferrara believes the ease of of the design more setup and the sturdiness the competition interest especially
than make up for the extra expen.se."When is a simple tent, it is difficult new," she concedes. to accept change,
years. III 2002 Mia back to the prototype, several winters Working with to refine the ..
Ferrara joined the firm. and she and her father their attention which by now had withstood in their backyard Weyerhaeuser, material retardant
does not mean chanqe should not occur." In 2005 Ferrara Architecture based architecture Reconstruction prototype more than for Humanity. the Miami-
firm Arquirtectonica,
and betlerwaterproofing
and Grenada Relief, Recovery, and [GR3] 10 field test a of the islano's by powerful housing of their design in Grenada after
to provide security" The company latrines to be used in emergency the designers the shelters
85 percent
hurricanes. to rura I
were distributed
left
Global Village Shelters, in Connecticut
above Global Village Shelters provide much-needed snelter toa famity in hurrlcsne-ravagee Grenada.
GIU/Arc.l'Iii1eoenrre for !-fwrn.ar.ity
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Burning Man Shelter Tests
L.ocafion_8ljrnimr Date_2001-5
Main Festival. Black Rock Desert, NeVild<l, USA
"If people are livinq in a box, we need box:' Sanford went tlwroug.h on the geodesic Laten-he was testinq before settlinq
his pod under the b,akil1g Nevada 5UI'I. He based his design on
two
main
the
go voluntarily: for emergency shelter designers, it is the perfect Location lor testing their latest prototype. The lcosa Pod instantly became an Icon
at the event, with its futuristic-looking and lightweight material. The shelter shell was
its triangular forms sustain mor-e stress than rectanqles and its dome shape provides more usable space, The fire- retardant, waterproofed lam i natedcardboard watts create six-inch-Tlfi-cm-l thick cavities providing passive insulation. ~n
more temperate climates the cavities Chloroplast, at Burning can be
principles:
are
designed
by
Washington-based
Sanford
Ponder, a musician-turned-Nicrosoft-
durable
laminated-plastic
use, Detractors
tool-free
the shelter's
Hexayu rt, at
The Hexayurt
Podvitle
Localion_Bu IDate_2001 IDesigln firm_lcDsa rning Man Festival,
about Strong Angel. a project instigated to test emergency systems shelter and communicationeight-foot Construction
by
[see below].
The design can be built using any tour-byO.2-by-2.4-mJ requires of sheet material. only six straight cuts make
Ilrrian,'or _Sanford Ponder Additional consultant_Markus Cost per lunit_lcoPod, [for humanitarian use only]
across
the
sheets,
to
was
the roof triangles. Gupta's Man prototype cardboard built from Hexacomb by Pactiv Corporation Heatshield, insulation Innovative flexibility a reflective developed
and connected
with fiber tape. It was then wrapped vaporbarrler and waterproofing Energy. Separating elements in the materials coolinq
in
for by
the structural
and waterproofing the area's extreme an emergency swamp computer plastic cooler,
in this instance,
tub filled with four inches even further. and portable. difficulty.
110
of water. This helped temperature be lightweight However, "ops" carried undertaken former military being affordable,
the Hexayurt
by
out during
the festival
by a group of current
consultants
and personnel. Construction 0,1an 1,05a Village DecaPod at 'the Burning 'Man Festival in 2001 opposite below The completed "IPcdville" at sunset
Both phctcqrephs lecsa Village lne.
are held every few years ill Hawaii and involve a wide range of players. academic, military, including and humanitarian
...
N
Aranow
""
Area_161
opposite Designer VinClYGupta's rnrnpleted Haxayurt orntotype at the Burning looIan lestival in 20013
"'"7y
GUpta
err to right. top to bottom The cardboard shell LInder construction; application ot the reflect'ive heat shiield; transportinq the shelter: - e design,er, left, wiitil friend Beatrice Ara now -~ front (If the completed "IaU-scale unit
to improve
and
free spirits, might be the last place you would expect to see a military base camp. For Rasmussen il was the best austere
environment for: testing new ideas he had
Drganization~Strorlg
AngeL
ever seen, His team had been prornotinq the idea that the restoration of roads, bridges, ports, water, sanitation systems, shelter, and other basic services could be planned for, practiced, and responded to qukkly through better
communications networks and the intelliqent Hhe group has a use of cheap technoloqy. for exampls.] In 2004
the
team erected
dome [desig:ned by World Shelters, see ·Shelter Frame Kin at the Burning Man geodesic
festivities shelter in relief After to test the depLoyment and cornm urtication operations, Burning Man the team tcokthe of
i ntra structure
to Banda Aceh,
in the wake of 5urveying
infrastructure
time in, helicopters
were
spending
areas of the disaster zone that others had ",lr'eady assessed. Had information been shared through a network such a,s Strong Angel, they could have used the helicopters
transport Rasmussen food and shelter to those in need, noted. He and his. team hope to
to
apply
opposite
[clockwise from top lett] Streng An:geLparticlpants ,erec~algE!odesic dome desi'~nedl by WDr~d Shelters dUliin~ unoffic:i'al kaining el(e·rcie5 held at the Burning Man
Festival in 2001;; the shelter is used 10 create a: communications network; a solar-powered GPS bot collects milppin9 data; a powerful Wi·Fi
dlrectlonal antenna can be made from a Pringles
can for Less than $10; the
Invented by Peter Brewin and William Crawford, engineers at the RoyaL College of Art, Concrete Canvas is a "building in a bag."
Canvas
Date_2003-4 Design, team_Peter
Concrete
Brewin. WilHam Crawford
In.flate the bag. and 12 hours Later a Ouonset-sha backgrounds degrees structure operations, storing ped structu re is ready for before pursing their master's use. Its desig ners, who booth had milita ry in industrial design, belLieve the medical clinics. or
should
I The
result
116 sq.
to create a instant
Althouqh
shelter
in a bag is intriguing,
at 500 pounds
Cost per unit_$2,OOO [prototype) Areil_l72 sq. 11./16 $~ rn Weight_507 lb./230 kg We bsite_ www.. oncretecanvas .on:J.uk c
of the sack
distrl butio n by foot and requ ire s a truck. ALso, water can be scarce FieLd operations tend to nature of it once use. and environmental such as how
it with water, [The size of the sack controls ratio. eliminating need for measuresnent.l Then leave the bag hydrates. a
in an emergency,
as political
these structures
fiber matrix and water-absorbent reaction that mixes the cement. which then via a chernlcat voLume of leave it to Finally. (To avoid
bonding agents draw water. creatinq Next. unfold the structure, like an air mattress
i3
it is no lonqer needed for emergency That said. Brewin and Crawford developed prototypes. Standards conduct continue a number of small-scale
have
Last year Cone rete Canvas won Design Aw.ard from the British which allowed the team to in UgEHlda. They have and plan to Institute.
controLled inflates,
the Sustainalble
harden and then cut doors and ventilation holes a ut of the cone rete "cloth." leave the concrete to cure overnight
field research
Delivery
Hydration
Inflation
SetUng
above
WiltiJ rn Crawfordl
.... ..
• 139 Shelter
Location_Eth iopia lunbuiltl
Dat'e_1989 Design firm_Future Systems Design team_Jan Kaplicky, David Nixon Structu ... l engiineer _Ale{ier 1 a
Mec;haniul, (formerly engineer _ARUP Dve Arup & Partners] peopLe peopl'e/30 minutes
Future Systems is best known for its NASA-inspired conceptual designs and award-winning work, such as the Selfridges department store in Birminqharn, England.
Btlt in 1989 the fi rrn conceived exceedinqly to providing emergency and internal shelter, conflict had led to Ethiopia. of an approach
139 Shelter,
responses explains
0118
of the
lew architecturaL
Cost
lor people to 'lie down once they arrived," "You watch television you see people baked are inspired, The sheller. woman's large-span immediate air or freight undercarriage
Drouqhl
widespread food aidto
famine throughout
by the
day or dying of cold during the nighl, and you of course." based on the principle was designed unfolds of a to serve as
parasol,
by
fighting.
hindered
to deliver
relief supplies,
By 1985 as many as 5 miHion people were on food <lid. news coverage as to aid where it around comm unity attempted to distribute The famine dominated the inlernational pressure officials
up to 200 people. II can be transported cargo, then hooked to the of a truck or airlifted
by
lothe by 12
site, Once on site it can beassembled the "umbrella" or weighed of lightweight are anchored PVC-coated
was needed. Ev,ery night televisions the' wo rld broadcast hungry families food distribution protection clustered
people with the turn of a winch. The ribs 01 to the ground A canopy reflects warmth down with sandbags.
centers-many
polyester
up to 80 percent ofthe sun's heat, providing shade durinq the day and retaining during the night. Ventilation through the central hub. is provided
1q
3,
, I '[/
/
9\ I
/)
, 1./
I r
!
I
'l
'i
I
J
I
ency shelter, designed .~ Future Systems: em~r:as,y transport and opens in 1989. couapses;~nClh. Twelv~ people ca:rding with the turn of a ,'3D minutes, ace assem bLe the stru ctu re 1m 'ts designers, to j System, AU irnaqes Future
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Harnbantota, families advisor_Sandra Babister Ali Haider Hoque and (DEC] D'Urzo and settlement Location_Tangalle, D..te_2005 Organizatiol'l_Ox:fam, End tlieot_Displaced Shelter Great Britain Sri lanka
engineer_Enilmul
and self-help
engineering
construction
support
Emergency Committee
Funding_Disasters
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