Tag Archives: Government

Story Telling

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In this past week’s reading, “Spatial Agency; Other Ways of Doing Architecture”, the authors started their chapter with a section about briefing. They consider “Briefing” to be, in a sense, the contract or understanding in the client-architect relationship. The client has an agenda to build a specific building with a specific program and gives their agenda to an architect. The architect is paid for their services. But the authors go on to explain that some believe design without, or outside the boundaries of regulations are more appropriate to social conditions. Cedric Price believes, “These instances of space that are found outside the rules and regulations that typically govern the production of space open up a more variable understanding and interpretation of space” (70). Unfortunately clients don’t want experimentation or anything out of the norm because it usually ends in failed attempts, law suits, and over budgeting. The architect must then decide how can you earn a client’s trust to design an unexpected architecture?

This is a question whether you are working in slums or even in the middle of Manhattan. Clients do not want to pay more and developers will strip designs down to the bare minimum. We have seen from case studies that it is easier to cross the legal regulations in the Global South because there are no regulations to cross. These squatter settlements are in themselves illegal. We have seen small information boards put up for news to be shared. We have also seen instances where a can of paint can transform a street into a soccer field or reorganize a market. These projects required no permits or contracts, just planning on construction at the open opportunity. But what about constructing a larger structure that can displace residence for instance? Architects must still find a way to convince not only the client, but the locals.

I thought that the point brought up by the firm DEGW has a good perspective on the client-architect relationship. They mentioned, “The brief is the first stage in the design of a set of social relations” (70). The rules and regulations set prior to the building’s design, is seen as part of the design process. Architects must be included from the start in order to have a productive use of spatial regulations. DEGW is seeing this first process as an opportunity for the architect to have some control of what boundaries can be used or crossed. This is also a good opportunity for the architect to be involved with not only the client but the other organizations involved such as the locals and the government.

Also mentioned by the firm Crimson, “…being able to tell a good story, a gripping story, a touching, exciting, spectacular story is the core of designing and planning” (71). There are many examples of storytelling in architecture from the past and it can be used as a design tool to work with clients. In the past, churches were carved with biblical stories because many people were illiterate. Also seen in the promenade architecturale by Le Corbusier, he tells a story through a montage of views. Architecture has told a story in the past, why can’t it be used to win over clients now. We can make up our own stories which engage the clients and locals. The key is to win over the clients for them to agree with the design.

Now I am not saying that architects should deceive clients and communities. Deceit will end in even more issues and law suits. But architects should learn how to effectively work with clients and the community and I believe that being a part of the process from the beginning and learning to win over clients is productive. Story telling can be understood by everyone, and I believe that it is a tool that is underutilized today. Not only can stories be told to communicate with clients, but also the community at the same time. It is an opportunity to connect everyone to the same space.

 

1. Spatial Agency

Linking Through Infrastructure

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One of the re-occurring themes in the readings and discussions in our class has been the boundaries between what we now hesitate to call formal and informal cities. Urban Think Tank’s label for blurring the boundaries between the two kind of cities, which they called Urban Acupuncture, has fascinated me.

A topic which has come up in this week’s readings was the connection between slums themselves; not only blurring the existing boundary, but more importantly, creating a strong network. While slums may seem like random, unorganized organisms, they are actually “the consequence of distorted development.”  (Franco) In fact, based on the natural drainage systems in place, one can see that a lot of slums are developed alongside these kinds of natural infrastructure. It is important to recognize that by emphasizing these kinds of infrastructures and creating connections between the slums, they can be transformed from seemingly scattered areas to actual functioning cities. The government is quickly changing it’s role to become a ‘facilitator’ rather than a ‘provider’. (Franco) That being said, it is also curial that the government includes the residents of the slums and creates an atmosphere where both parties contribute to the development. For example, in Indore, the government gave the land residents long term leases and making their stay on the land legal. The residents then went ahead and built their own toilets which connected to the sewage system implemented by the government. The outcome of such collaboration was one where both parties worked together in order to create a connection between the slums, improve infrastructure, and create a more city-like environment. Another aspect of the residents involvement in these projects is that by knowing how certain things work, they are able to pass down the knowledge, work on repairs, and ultimately be more invested in the improvements. According to Slum Networking Along the Indore River makes a really important statement that among the issues of slums, such as health, education, income generation and physical infrastructure, the implementation of physical structure is the most important and effective intervention, with the most direct results. (Franco)

Such infrastructural interventions also create a lot of different kinds of potentials for social interventions too. For example, in the Antonico Creek Urban Project, the government created a canal to better neighborhood sanitation, etc. Next to the canal, the government decided that they would be able to insert programs for pedestrians and cyclists. Immediately, the improved infrastructure allows for a better connection between slums, creates better living standards within each slum, and creates a social infrastructure. (Davidson)

Works Cited

Davidson, Cynthia. “Slum Networking Along the Indore River.” Architectural Design (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

Franco, Fernando De M. “Filling the Void With Popular Imageries.” Architectural Design (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

The Right to the City Determined By Identity

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Dharavi, one of the biggest slum settlements, is worth $2 billion. With the booming population of today’s world, and the lack of land to build on, there is clearly a lot of attention to such settlements. David Harvey’s, The Right to the City, talks about the “most precious yet most neglected” human right to build and rebuild the city. (Harvey 35) So, say the government took over the land and moved the people from this settlement, what would that mean for the displaced people? The Indian Constitution states that they have a responsibility to “protect the lives and well-being of the whole population, irrespective of caste or class” – as almost any such document will say. (Harvey 35) Do they even deserve to be there in the first place? The Supreme Court believes that to go by such a ‘responsibility’ would be “rewarding pick pockets”… Harsh comment, but does the Supreme Court have a point? The title of Harvey’s article, Right to the City, can, by nature, be interpreted in many different ways from many different opinions. Who owns this right? 

When talking about New York City, Harvey hypothesizes that there is going to be a “Financial Katrina”, where many of the low income neighborhoods, drowning in debt, will be cleared out. Will this then act as a blank-slate-like environment where those parts of the city could be planned again? Will there be planned developments to these parts of the city for the real-estate companies to make millions over? Thinking towards the sense of identity that is discussed in the excerpt from S, M, L, XL, what would be appropriate for the identity of such a place? Take a look at Dubai; a city which grew in just a decade or two, essentially the quintessential blank slate for an architect’s pen and paper. But what comes from the hundreds of developments and thousands of new homes that are being erected at an unimaginable rate. Dubai is essentially the airport city, “not only multiracial, also multicultural.” (Koolhaas 1252) One can even argue that with the collage of all sorts of projects, it lacks identity.

Look back to Dharavi, and compare it to Dubai in terms of identity. As Koolhaas describes, “The stronger identity .. the more it resists expansion, interpretation, renewal, contradiction.” (Koolhaas 1248) So while certain parts of New York City may undergo a kind of “Financial Katrina”, and may be more open ended to be able to absorb a variety of developments, what would happen to a place like Dharavi if the government did take over? With clearly a strong sense of identity, how much would this $2 billion land being drooled over but certain professions actually allow to take place? When talking about possibility of even more developments in certain parts of the world, Harvey argues that there have been no “coherent opposition to these developments in the twenty-first century.” (Harvey 39) Yes, there have, in my opinion based on these readings. Dharavi keeps itself from becoming the generic city as described in S, M, L, XL. While the right to the city, whether it’s yours or mine, is certainly there, at times there is a sense of history that has written the course of the natural development of the city.

 

Works Cited

Harvey, David. “New Left Review – David Harvey: The Right to the City.” New Left Review – David Harvey: The Right to the City. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.

Koolhaas, Rem, and Bruce Mau. S M L XL: OMA. S.l.: S.n., 1993. Print.