Community Service Through Architecture - Case Study Example

Introduction The architectural profession is generally reliant on an elite clientele; Bell posits that, a very small percentage of home-buyers can actually afford to employ an architect to design the home in which they will live (Bell 2001). He adds that, alternatively, architecture is open-sourced, which should be accessible to everyone, particularly poorer members of the society specifically those who experience the destruction of or displacement from their homes. This essay will provide a comprehensive discussion concerning the merits of architecture as practical action, specifically focusing on the attainment of short- and medium-term needs. Issues that touch on human-well being like shelter are usually predictably rife with politics; these posit a starting-point for the discussion and configuration of design as aid or relief. Discussion In order to expound on Bell's thesis, architectural designs are increasingly taking place outside of its professional facets. In accordance to the concept of survivalism, initiative as well as coping mechanisms of people worldwide Jane Jacobs concur that architectural processes are usually conducted by the elite members of the society such as architects or planners. She adds that the elite have misunderstood the pertinence of society and the initiatives in planning as well as urban housing advancement (1961). Similarly, these design initiatives of the society usually attract greater recognition in cases of disaster that may lead to physical displacement. This issue has raised several questions one of them being: How to make architectural designs and humanitarian assistance holistic without ignoring the methodologies, requirements, and interests of society members in need of shelter. In relation to political issues, the aspect of seeking asylum and shelter by refugees, the trade-off between short term problem-solving and medium- to long-term solutions is often most evident. The role of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has, over the past decade, sought to address this balance. The UNHCR's shelter programme in Afghanistan was launched in 2002, shortly after the US and UK invasion. The UNHCR programme was specifically designed for the re-housing of returnee families. To counter the trade-off between providing humanitarian relief and maintaining individual autonomy, the Afghanistan initiative also incorporates the participation of beneficiaries (UNHCR 2010). In terms of factoring for medium-term and long-term needs, the project has also sought to mitigate population pressure on under-developed rural areas by focusing housing development in rural communities. Housing initiatives like the Afghanistan housing projects are directed into relief into relief, however, when consideration is taken on the number of migrants seeking to escape Afghanistan and are rendered homeless for the majority of this migration process – and often beyond it. Despite the fact that one of the main aims of the UNHCR Afghanistan project is to 'preserve asylum space in host countries' (UNHCR 2012), it is precisely within the luminal spaces created by asylum and migration that homelessness occurs. For instance: The tent 'jungles' of Calais, where many Afghan migrants live for months under tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, and bin-liners where attempts to create housing shelters for migrants has been quashed by police. Another example has been recognized in Africa where a building that was squatted to provide a space for migrants of Sub-Saharan origin was promptly evicted and razed to the ground. Through factoring a transnational political perspective into our assessment of humanitarian architectural design, it is possible to see the multiplicity of short- and medium-term considerations; while such considerations are perhaps being met for rural returnees in Afghanistan, for those who are still fleeing torture and persecution in their homelands, the same needs are not met. Rather, migrants are faced with yet more instability, homelessness, and state oppression. Although not as explicitly inflected with politics, the context of natural disaster – and its attendant displacements often exhibits the same fundamental issues. It can also present certain levels of economic opportunism regarding new housing developments. Thus the task at hand for Bell's open-source architects is not only to provide access to adequate shelter for survivors of natural disasters, but also to counter the profiteering that disaster displacements have been frequently met with. The upheaval and uprooting that accompanied Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is a clear example of this dual issue. Naomi Klein has characterised the urban privatisation attendant on the displacement caused by Katrina as an example of the 'shock doctrine' or 'disaster capitalism' (2007). Klein exposes the attempts to dismantle New Orleans' public housing projects in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane destruction and the city's evacuation, which saw thousands of people temporarily housed in the 77,000-seat Superdome stadium, dubbed 'shelter of last resort' by New Orleans officials (Palser 2007). The above scenario was effective in providing shot term solution to the victim of the hurricane since there was a low level of preparation, on a state-wide and federal scale. The Superdome itself provided an extremely low level of comfort, dignity, and privacy, for those who were unable to get out of New Orleans before Katrina hit. If anything the Superdome stands out as an example of why linkages between open-source, practical architecture and public policy need to be made. Nonetheless, the decisions to effectively harness the fallout of Katrina for the privatisation of homes for the poorest members of society are indicative of the fact that the politics behind humanitarianism have often remained opportunistic. Attempts to mitigate this have been made by organisations such as Architecture for Humanity, which has worked on shelter and housing projects in New Orleans. Such projects usually seek to set up partnerships between architects and residents. This is the case with the reconstruction of the Guillen resident, a house that was part of a neighbourhood completely flooded during Katrina, and home to seven people, including five children. The Guillen residence project is also part of the Open Architecture Network; work hitherto, performed on the residency has been described thus: 'the house has been completely gutted and received mold remediation to the exposed wooden framing' (OAN 2006). The Guillen project is an example of open-source architecture attempting to provide more accessible and autonomous solutions to people affected by natural disasters; in the short term, the key consideration of habitable residencies in hurricane-affected neighbourhoods is clearly met. Likewise, in the medium term, the open-access relationship forged between residents and architects proffers both a degree of sustainability for the wider success of such projects in New Orleans and for the continuation of practical reconstruction work within the given residency. However, as a long-term macro solution to the problem of emergency and relief shelter, such Architecture for Humanity projects are patently inadequate, since they do not address the deeper-rooted problems at the centre of the sojourns in 'disaster capitalism' exemplified by post-Katrina policies. Without a serious emphasis on providing public housing and adequate federal responses to evacuation – rather than utilising existing spaces that contravene human rights standards – 'humanitarian architecture' cannot make the kind of headway Bell intends. The above challenge has been comprehensively discussed by Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, in 'Design like You Give a Damn' (2006), a manifesto for the organisation which opens with a recollection of AOH’s incapacity to assist the UNHCR in the creation of refugee tents. This is after a 'hypothetical' invasion of Afghanistan, owing to insufficient resources. Nonetheless, there can be little doubt that the ethical aims of Sinclair's model, as well as Bell's, are sound, particularly regarding the focus on safeguarding a sense of dignity and identity that accompanies the increase in resident-architect relationships. In 'Safe: Design Takes On Risk', Fantonelli describes 'one's sense of identity' as the 'ultimate shelter' (2005: 58). In this regard, the swift erection of homes that are portable or easily moved is a key component of maintaining the emotional as well as physical welfare of people affected by involuntary migration, evacuation, or disaster. UNHCR plastic sheeting proffers a basic example of a mobile and easily constructible form of shelter, but naturally falls short of being able to provide a sense of a temporary residency. More impressive in this medium-term regard is the Global Village Shelter, cited in 'Safe' as a wind- and fire-resistant paper house that snaps together in fifteen minutes and lasts twelve months' (60). The Global Village Shelter was used in the reconstruction of Grenada following Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Additionally, a more impressive for medium-term comfort and home-establishment is the Paper Log House, also cited in 'Safe', which was used extensively in Turkey in 1999, for earthquake victims near Istanbul (61); not only were the easily-procurable materials donated by Turkish and Japanese businesses (circumventing short-term problems of accessing cheap materials for construction), but the houses were then easily prefabricated in Istanbul, rendering the construction time extremely minimal (61). Such innovations are certainly exciting from an architectural view, and indeed successful in providing effective solutions to short- and medium-term shelter shortages in their respective contexts. Of course, as long as there are natural disasters and national conflicts, there will be a need for the provision of shelter on temporary bases. Conclusion However, we should remain aware that NGO projects that seek to mitigate the effects of displacement through widening access to architectural solutions are themselves participant in the politics of the short- and medium-term. If architects turned their attention simultaneously to the creation of genuinely public housing that is resilient to certain forms of disaster – particularly in the ever-increasingly important context of climate change – and to the eradication of laws capping asylum, the long-term could also begin to take a place in this configuration. References Paola, A. 2005. Safe: Design Takes on Risk. Chapel Hill: The Museum of Modern Art. Barb, P. 2007. Hurricane Katrina: Aftermath of Disaster. New York: Capstone. Bryan, B. 2003. Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service Through Architecture. New York, NY.: Princeton Architectural Press. Bryan, B., & Wakeford, K. 2008. Expanding Architecture: Design As Activism. Belmont, Calif.: Metropolis Books. Davis, M. 2007. Planet of Slums. Detroit, MI: Verso. Jacobs, J. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Tennesse: Vintage Books. Kabul, M. N., & Afghanistan. n.d.. UNHCR - UNHCR's Afghanistan shelter programme tops 200,000 homes mark . UNHCR Welcome. Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://www.unhcr.org/4d077d126.html Naomi, K. 2007. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Henry Holt. UNHCR - Afghanistan Fact Sheet. n.d. UNHCR Welcome. Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://www.unhcr.org/50002021b.htm Read More