Comments on: Incremental Housing Strategy by Filipe Balestra and Sara Göransson

By: Tereza Freire

Tereza Freire — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:26:16 +0000

Iniciativa excelente! A humanização da arquitetura é uma das melhores contribuições para melhoria da qualidade de vida e desenvolvimento social. Através de um plano piloto visando a implantação de infraestrutura básica em favelas ou zonas de habitação social de baixa renda, garante-se também prevenção de doenças, mortalidade infantil e outras mazelas advindas da pobreza e da falta de condições de saneamento básico. Eleva-se a autoestima dos habitantes da localidade, levando-os à busca de uma melhor forma de viver. PARABÉNS aos arquitetos e ao seu trabalho.

By: matt

matt — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:13:56 +0000

hey you guy that write down your social status as part of your name and spell Architecture with a Capital A, it seems that you know your lesson very well, is it a real copy-paste of your courses or did your courses copy-pasted themselves in your mind?

i think i’d like to meet you and talk with you about Architecture
the only reason to justify the Capital A is this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bWUfpDDVi4

By: Bartek Klimczak. Registered Architect WA, Australia

Bartek Klimczak. Registered Architect WA, Australia — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:06:13 +0000

Whilst i agree with some of the comments here that Architects have been in the past egoists, I also find it ridiculous that the Architect bashers here are stating that Architecture today is irrelevant to affordable housing, and that the problems are legal, political and or infrastructure based only. Architects study for 5 years and then train for another 5, we are as close to experts as you will get in this field, it is an Architects job to be innovative, accountable, contextual and also culturally senstive in any outcome be it high or low budget and i think youll find most Architects are rearing for an opportunity to work pro bono in low tech solutions fed up with only getting high end commissions. I have researched countless exampled of NGOS who build stuff without thinking, without engaging Architects where the built outcome is rejected by the local community, engineers, builders and lawyers just dont get it, its not their job to. I think most Architects would be interested in the background occupations of these backyard critics and their qualifications for making the above negative comments. I think this project will be a catalyst in this emerging unprecedented field of drastic urbanisation redevelopment where 1 billion people are in need of help. Yes slum dwellers arent stupid, yes the problems are often about legal rights but slum dwellers also arent experts in construction either, and sometimes proffesional expertise shouldnt be shrugged off either beit local or from abroad. I was personally inspired doing a slum redevelopment university unit studying under Doshi in Amhedabad and having been dieing to find a way to go back and help, and most of the things i learnt where based on eveolving ideas with input from all cultures, Yes local Archtiects probably have more local knowledge but synthesis of eastern and western knowledge is where we may actually achieve a creative innovative outcome. I think sitting back on a golden throne and poking holes in projects that are genuinly trying to make a difference and only referencing the imperial mistakes of the past is naive as it is distasteful

By: Sagar

Sagar — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:36:02 +0000

HI Guys,
This is very interesting discussion between role of architectural typology and social, political, economical issue. I think both sides are fare enough but still not able to solve the problem of informality. I agree with MATT this is not first time such projects is done but at the same time Matt there are lot of the policies made for slums and still they are not able to answer the question of such informality.
My point is both architecture and the Matts idea of implementation of policies has to worked out simultaneously. Matt the architectural typology plays very important role in socio economical process. that we can see it in most of European cities. The second issue is we need such projects which will help to improve living conditions for slums, but at the same time it should not be gentrification. One of the point mentioned in above discussion about ownership will create the problem of gentrification.

Few days ago i was reading about Berlin redevelopment in 1900. I think it is very interesting to refer that example to understand the role of architect, planner, socialist working together for issue of informality.

About the above project i think it is giving some better housing conditions than existing, but this not enough, Providing cheap boxes is not the solution for slums. This is where i agree with Matts point of increasing there economical conditions. How to improve the job conditions, how to improve there local businesses. These issues are totally missing in the proposal.

Most of the slums in India, specially in Mumbai has lot of local businesses, the new building typology should consider to improve those businesses, like we can see this in Some social Housing in London, I think the above proposal is just a box which will fix the family in fix area, Thts what i understood by looking images of building typology. This is project is not so much different than what we see in most of the slum clearance project.

Finally i want to say, we need to rethink our tools for issue of informality, we need to understand that just giving house for poor people is not going to help to reduce the poverty but also need to create social economical structure which will create the conditions for help them self…

By: zsa zsa

zsa zsa — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:05:58 +0000

Nobody deserves the services of architects.

By: peixe

peixe — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:37:00 +0000

thats an excelent idea, low cost, simple plan, and the location… these people really need the intervention.
the team is excelent, talented and inteligent people, showing to the world that the portuguese architecture is not only siza vieira and souto moura!

peace and respect my friends

By: Gabriel Mills

Gabriel Mills — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:58:42 +0000

Bewildered by so many negative comments on what seems a very simple, straightforward and sensible minimum change for maximum improvement of miserable conditions in which slum-dwellers are forced to live.

And if architects aren’t the obvious and best people to deal with ALL the factors involved — including working with and for the community they serve — then our training, skills and attitudes aren’t up to much.

It was architects who, over 40 years ago, proposed to developing-world city governments that the growth of shanty-towns could and should be civilised for their burgeoning populations by providing a basic grid of services and drainage before people appropriated land, even if nothing more could be publicly afforded.

270 sq ft per house / family, distributed over three floors, is pitifully small compared with the space standards most of us are used to. But if this is all that is feasible (I notice the grant stipulation) without uprooting entire communities & shifting them to soulless blocks liable to be rented out to others, then this is the way to do it.

While normally the “applicable anywhere” description would sound warning bells, clearly these simple basic principles are the exception, unless perhaps in earthquake areas. And it has to be assumed that in monsoon areas, the run-off from flat roofs is provided for.

People do care about colour — especially in situations where few other personal choices can be made. Choice of colour expresses feeling and identity, and helps to act as unique home and (in sequence) “street” location markers in otherwise bewildering miles of similar construction. And paint at least is cheap, compared with construction materials.

Good for these architects.

By: somu

somu — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:57:24 +0000

A day should come when architects were rated based on their service to the
down trodden society, developing plans to the slum and lower middle class,
who actually deserve the service of architects and engineers.

Teresa, Nightingale etc; became noble just because of their service to the poor.

being an architect i felt very bad on the negative comments made on a good
effort made by the designers.

By: G Sarin

G Sarin — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:55:12 +0000

POVERTY PORN – is right! All we need is for western architects to put into words and theories the actions of others, add colours and publish a book/paper…….where would we be without you guys?

By: archcritic

archcritic — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:10:36 +0000

matt + jones = haterade.