“In 2011, members of the DAC of the OECD provided USD 133,5 billion of net official development assistance (ODA), representing 0.31 per cent of their combined gross national income (GNI). This was a -2.7 % drop in real terms compared to 2010, the year it reached its peak. This decrease reflects fiscal constraints in several DAC countries which have affected their ODA budgets.”

Fortunately, besides governments, other entities contribute to supporting development projects, including professional associations like the Architects Institute of Catalonia (COAC – Col∙legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya), where I am currently completing my internship as part of this masters course. The institute’s Cooperation Department is currently working on a number of actions of collaboration with non-profit and non-governmental organizations, such as grants, open meetings, debates and exhibitions.

Grants for cooperation and development initiativesOne of these initiatives is a series of grants that the COAC awards to local NGOs for a specific project that deals with cooperation and development either at the local or international level. In the past years, the institution has earmarked 0.7% of its annual budget for the Catalan NGO Arquitectos sin Fronteras (Architects Without Borders). In a move to  amplify their commitment to social and sustainable architecture, this year the COAC announced an open call for proposals to provide grants to non-profit organizations focusing on architectural or urban planning projects of international and local development cooperation. Taking in account the global economic crisis, the COAC has recognized the importance of enlarging its funds to others organizations.

In March I began working as intern at COAC and was assigned to elaborate all the required documents for this first call, under the supervision of Sandra Bestraten, architect and chair of the Board of Directors. Due to the lack of previous experiences, the organizational challenge has been met thanks to thematic researches among national and international references: general rules, guidelines, application forms, selection mechanisms, evaluation criteria and final reports. This study has shown the importance of a comprehensive approach for moving through a project’s cycle and for a proper evaluation of viable proposals. The final structure of the Call for Proposals reflects the COAC’s general principles and strategic objectives as pillars of an efficient and effective selection process.

Collective Architecture Open Debate

Despite worrying forecasts and bleak outlooks, many individuals and groups are approaching the current situation proactively to come up with new strategies and solutions. A renewed social conscience is generating multiple opportunities for collective actions.

On March 15^th 2012, the COAC hosted the open meeting Una nova manera de treballar en xarxa (A new way of networking led by Collective Architectures, an international network of collectives with the purpose of bringing together different platforms involved in issues of architecture and urban planning in Catalunya. The idea of Collective Achitectures is based on developing three lines of work:

1. Creating an open map for sharing information, experiences and investigations
2. Organizing a technical office geared to the needs of inhabitants
3. Coordinating actions with the collaboration of citizens and experts

Synergies between groups are considered as project resources for building shared systems of mutual learning and exchange. Such multidisciplinary networking recognizes the necessity of changing and evolving models and processes, one of the greatest challenge we face today.

Exhibition and lecture RESET 11.03.11# New Paradigms

From the 8^th to the 31^st of March, the COAC also hosted RESET 11.03.11# New Paradigms“, an exhibition and lecture series on contemporary Japanese  architecture organized by Anywhere Door. The event brought together different generations of architects, from young students to famous architects, showcasing projects designed for the reconstruction effort of the Tohoku region affected by earthquake and tsunami one year ago.

Catastrophes like these have considerably shifted architectural mindsets on a global scale: architects are reconnecting urban planning with nature and are increasingly aware of their social role and responsibilities. The restored sense of community has brought Japan back to the Metabolism movement, which focused on architecture as a social good.

The projects were organized in different sections according to their chronological order after the tsunami:

• 1 month (simple partitions)
• 3 months (temporary houses, community spaces, small urban reconstructions)
• 6 months-1 year (large scale urban reconstructions)
• future opportunities (proposals)

“Fish Arch” (Sakana no Archi) Yasushi Ikeda Laboratory (exhibition poster)

Archi+Aid. Lecture by Cat, Kazuhiro Kojima + Kazuko Akamatsu

Additional local initiatives: Boys and Girls Council of L’Hospitalet
Consell de nois i noies. Plenary session.

Citizen participation is a recurring topic and even governments are now aware that social inclusion creates new networks and ensures greater acceptability of projects among inhabitants. Through my work with Sandra Bestraten at COAC, I also came to know about architect Emili Hormías, a coordinator of the Boys and Girls Council (Consell de Nois i Noies) of L’Hospitalet, a working class suburb located immediately southwest of Barcelona. This is a project of citizen participation that involves youths in matters of public interest. Children take part in discussions on city issues that concern them and they in turn make proposals that are made available to the municipal government. The participation in the council is an opportunity to learn more about the functioning of the city and to promote values ​​of coexistence and democracy.

The Council is made up of boys and girls selected among students of primary and secondary schools in the city. Half of the members are renewed every year and counsellors are appointed for a maximum of two years. The children work in teams of 10-15 grouped according to educational areas.

On the 14^th of March, Emili Hormías invited me to participate in a plenary session of the Council, where the groups shared projects currently underway in the 3 main areas of media, leisure and urbanism, the last of which is coordinated by  Emili .

The Boys and Girls Council project was inspired by an Italian pedagogue and researcher, Francesco Tonucci, who studied the relationship between children’s cognition and their social environment. His most important project is the “City of Children”, considered a new way of conceiving the city, with children as a reference point. The Boys and Girls Council has been working for six years and some of its proposals have been realized, especially those related to the improvement of accessibility and public transport.

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Two months of internship have flown by and Barcelona has revealed a promising array of positive initiatives to make itself and the world around it a better place to live in. This city is a constant stimulation of the senses with its multicultural crowds of people, streets and events: I am here, but I could be anywhere in the world.

All photos by Flavia Scognamillo.

Shortly after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, we heard about Shigeru Ban’s plan to build a multi-storey temporary housing in Onagawa. Completed nearly 9 months later in November 2011, the complex was deemed a success, with claims like “residents are so satisfied with their interim accommodations that they have already expressed a desire to live here longer than the established two-year term,” according to an article in Archrecord. That was Ban’s intention in the first place, though it brings into question how long temporary housing–which implies immediacy–should in fact take to build.

Made from shipping containers, the question also arises whether these structures are the most appropriate, considering the amount of energy required to make the box habitable, though some consider that they make most sense in disaster relief situations. In a recent interview published at worldarchitects, project manager Yasunori Hirano reveals some of the difficulties of the project, from bureaucratic issues and a tight time frame to screening the safety standards of the containers and finding skilled labor.

The project was completed thanks to the donations and participation of Voluntary Architects Network (VAN), an organization run by Shigeru ban, and the sponsorship of major brands like Louis Vuitton and Muji with furniture and appliances. In order to further evaluate the project, it would be useful to know the total cost (which we haven’t found listed online, neither on Shigeru Ban’s website) and an updated anaylsis of residents’ adaptation to the new concept of housing (multi-storey) and its development into a new community.

What do you think of Ban’s emergency housing for post-tsunami Onagawa?

Submissions for the 2013 prize are now being accepted. The nomination period runs until 15 September 2012.

Pictured above: Bridge School by Li Xiaodong in Xiashi, Fujian Province, China, one of last edition’s prize winners.

In the article, the authors explain the complexities of disaster reconstruction, cite real-life examples, and point out the need for design schools “to start training a new generation of architects to engage with natural disasters and war zones.” They go on to mention our masters program:

We need to start training architects to think differently about their vocations. There are very few actual programs in disaster relief and management. At the moment, the only program that is officially recognized by the European Union is the Master of International Cooperation in Sustainable Emergency Architecture at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona.

A warm thanks to the authors for a great article and for mentioning our program. Be sure to read the entire article here, and check Marie Aquilino’s book Beyond Shelter: Architecture and Human Dignity, which we featured in our post 10+ Books on Reconstruction and Development.

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Yuya Fukada reports on his internship with UNICEF in Rwanda.

Six weeks have already passed since we started our internship with UNICEF Rwanda. So far, I had been to six countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, and the life here in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, is by far the best experience in terms of daily life, comfort and security.

Landing at Kigali Airport at 19:30.

Situated in  east Africa, Rwanda is the 149th-largest country and often referred to as the “miracle of Africa”, due to its dramatic economic growth after having suffered the 1994 genocide in which an estimated one million people died. From the perspective of a simple tourist, you would hardly recognize any scars of the genocide unless you visited the genocide memorial centers, which are located all around the country.
Infrastructures such as roads and electricity have been constructed and seemingly well designed. You would be surprised by the amount of skyscrapers that have sprung up in the city center.

Kigali City Tower, one of the tallest commercial buildings

Together with fellow student Ana Livi, as interns of UNICEF Rwanda we were assigned to the organization’s construction unit and are working under the supervision of Luca Ginoulhiac, a Construction Works Specialist that deals with several projects in this country.

Our two main objectives for this three-month period are to develop a basic design of an ECD (Early Childhood Development) center and to provide the design for a school toilet unit that adopts MHM (menstrual hygiene management) standards.

Luca and Ana discussing with a member of an NGO

An ECD center is an educational facility specialized in children between 0 to 6 years old and their parents. Because statistics show that education for younger children generates higher contributions to the development of the country, it is vital to increase investment in this area. Various ministries, UN organizations and NGOs in Rwanda have been tackling this issue, as are many other developing nations.

Although no concrete guidelines or rules have yet been drawn out, so far the services to be provided include early child stimulation, health and nutrition care, prenatal care and parental education.

Concept drawing of ECD center, by Yuya Fukada

Technically, these centers are already exist, most of which were implemented by local communities, NGOs and private entrepreneurs. However, because involvement and contribution of public institutions is limited, people are often forced to manage their own centers without any financial and technical support, making the quality of the centers relatively poor in terms of both software and hardware. Unfortunately, neither are there any reliable statistics, given that this issue is quite new for them.

The government is now aiming to establish more than 2000 ECD centers throughout the country. Feasibility aside, if this goal were to be achieved, it would signify a great contribution to Rwanda and its people.

Self-managed daycare center: The inner courtyard of a community member’s home is used as a space where parents can leave their children while they work on the farms.

At the beginning of our stay here, we visited and interviewed international NGOs that are actively involved with early childhood development, finding that community initiative is a necessary and interesting approach. We also realized, however, that there are so many things to be improved in terms of design. Some buildings are merely a replication of a primary school that do not take into account the special needs of younger children and infants, presenting problems such as lack of ventilation and poor quality of materials, which are clearly due to limited human and financial resources.

Several weak points of existing centers, by Yuya Fukada

In order for us to reach the design phase, we still need to find answers to a score of questions: What kind of services/facilities are should be provided? Who we are designing for? How can we incorporate water infrastructure? What material should be used? Construction method? Capacity? Geometric character? Vegetation?

Child stimulation at an existing ECD center

Throughout the coming days we will visit several candidate sites to implement as a pilot project in each of the five provinces of Rwanda.

Hope to see some mountain gorillas on our way.

First prize went to the school in the village of Gando created by Diébédo Francis Kéré of Kéré Architecture in Berlin. Passive cooling during oppressive summer heat creates an indoor climate conducive to learning by routing air through subterranean tubes, planting vegetation, stack-effect air currents, and using double-skin roofs and façades. The project also improves social conditions by providing jobs and training, and restores the environment through reforestation.

The second prize was awarded to Urban Think Tank for a project that transforms an eroded landscape into a productive zone and dynamic public space in Paraisópolis favela in São Paulo, one of the world’s largest informal communities. The terraced public space with areas for urban agriculture, a water management system, a public amphitheater, a music school, a small concert hall, sports facilities, public spaces and transport infrastructure aims to prevent further erosion and dangerous mudslides on the steep slopes and provide social and cultural infrastructure.

Third place went to the “Flussbad” project in Germany , an urban plan by realities united for transforming an under-utilized arm of the River Spree in Berlin into a natural 745m-long “swimming pool”.

The Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction competition seeks innovative, future-oriented and tangible construction projects to promote sustainable responses to the technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues affecting building and construction on a local, regional and global level. For more information visit the website.

Also see: Sergio Palleroni Pushes Humanitarian Architecture Forward

This Thursday and Friday on the 29 and 30th of March, a wide range of experts on affordable housing in developing countries will be coming together to talk in Mumbai at Homegrown Cities – Local Construction Practices in Urban India – A Conference on Affordable Housing, organized by the Sir JJ School of Architecture and Lafarge together with URBZ, the Mumbai-based urban collective devoted to facilitating the production and exchange of information, knowledge, ideas and practices towards better cities for all.

Based on the idea and URBZ’s belief that residents are experts in their neighborhoods, this conference offers a refreshing approach:  alternative routes to affordable housing for poor communities in an “attempt to break the self-defeating logic in which state-sponsored and private sector initiatives in the sector seem to be locked in today.”

Building on the research and practice of students, leading practitioners from India and abroad, and local contractors and masons, “it focuses on a a much-overlooked aspect of Indian cities: the ability of so many neighborhoods to produce their own homes.”

Click here for more details about the program and speakers.

ps: Check out our post on Praise and Criticism of the $300 House, which features an article written by URBZ founders Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove.

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Nazanin Mehregan reports from Haiti and her internship with Architecture for Humanity.

It’s called the monkey bird, at least this is what the people from the House call it. The creature emits eccentric sounds that cut short my already limited hours of sleep, in the hills of Petionville. Approximately twenty of us, mostly architects working for Architecture For Humanity, live in the house. Further downhill, close to the neighborhood center where AFH’s local office in Haiti–the Bati Byen office (meaning “Building Better” in Creole) is located, Port-au-Prince presents itself as the city of life and chaos, of street vendors and food; the city of slums and a splash of informality, of NGOs and their 4×4 cars.

The divided Island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic and Haiti have shared since 1697, reminds me of “The Comedian”, a 1967 film by Peter Glenville. Though Port-au-Prince looks very different nowadays, major similarities to that time are still apparent. Unfortunately the situation remains muddled, the recent earthquake, despite two years past, having revealed the most immediate of problems. The roots of Haiti’s struggles can only be traced through history.

This country of 9 million is the poorest of the American continent and about half of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. It was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first black-led republic in the world, and the richest colony of France by the time of its independence in 1804, after which it became increasingly unstable and isolated by the international community, which devastated the country’s economy, primarily based on commodities export.

National Palace in Port-au-Prince that collapsed during the 2010 earthquake

Informal sales of fabric and cloths, mostly imported donations – Downtown Port-au-Prince, near the harbor

National decisions of individual leaders were supplementary to the case. Further back in time, when Dr. Francois Duvalier initiated an anticommunist strategy in 1957 to retain power, his policies promoted the migration wave from the rural areas to the cities, causing a “brain drain” of academics and skilled Haitian workers who fled to other countries. Now only half of the population remains literate. Since then, a number of military coups, revolts, constant short-term alterations and socio-economic and political instability has become the model based on which many Haitian leaders govern. As a result, the country sank further into poverty and violence. I experienced this instability first hand, on March 8^th when President Martelly was scheduled for an announcement and the resulting political unrest in the streets entailed our evacuation from the office. During that day the presence of the UN Stabilization Mission, MINUSTAH–with more than 7,000 troops in the country–became evident. In addition to a minor earthquake the night before, it made for an eventful 24 hours. It is clear that natural disasters in places like this serve to expose all the fault lines that exist in the country’s institutions. In terms of corruption, Haiti ranks 177th out of 179 countries.

Experiencing the Haitian bidonvilles

In one of the densest countries in the Americas (310 p/km2), especially in its urban spaces, the slum incidence is dramatically high, reaching 85% of the total urban population. The capital city, Port-au-Prince, with a total urban population estimated at more than 2.2 million people in the metropolitan area, concentrates a large number of these bidonvilles, French for “can towns” or informal settlements.

Where municipalities are marginalized on a national level, there is no legally approved master plan even for metropolitan Port-au-Prince, and this lack of information extends further to the statistics and demographic data of the city. Absence of access to basic infrastructure and low service provision by the national and local governing institutions are common attributes of the capital city.

Villa Rosa is one of these bidonvilles, located on the hillsides above PAP, for which Architecture For Humanity aside many other partners is currently conducting an Upgrading-Recovery master plan. This neighborhood is where I spend my time enthusiastically, at least one day per week as the project team member. This informal settlement was strongly hit, by the earthquake on January 2010. It has been selected by the Government of Haiti as one of the 16 neighborhoods that are prioritized for redevelopment.

Camps in the informal settlement of Villa Rosa – southern Port-au-Prince

In the densely populated city of Port-au-Prince, characterized by what many Haitians call “urbanization sauvage” (wild urbanization), most houses lack appropriate technical practices and are poorly and illegally built. In Villa Rosa they cling along steep hills, next to ravines and gullies, without the existence of any building codes or technical supervision, in danger of being washed away by the next rainy season or by the torrent of a hurricane. Many of these unplanned houses collapsed during the earthquake and forced people to squat in farming lands located at the southern end of the neighborhood, where living conditions are extremely poor.

One of the key elements of this upgrading project is community engagement. Through community participation sessions, we strive to assess the needs, priorities, capacities and visions of the local people so that we can provide complementary technical feedback and designs for the process and final outcomes. Despite the dreadful living conditions, the eagerness of people to participate in the sessions and demonstrate their high interest in improving their own environment, reminds me that even the most severe conditions are repairable if the people are involved and a desire exists.Community participation session in the informal settlement of Villa Rosa

Working with the community in this multi-dimensional project reveals that for Haitians, housing represents wealth and plays an important role in gradual accumulation of economic resources. Haitians build their houses over time using available cash, taking 5 to 15 years to finish construction. The common practice–even among the affluent–is a result of the existing inappropriate tax regulations; a way of dodging tax payments on completed structures.

The Dotted Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince is now characterized by massive tent-covered camps, rubble and unpaved, littered streets. It is also the sight of people overflowing from tap-taps (the local buses) the sound of diesel generators mixed with Compa music, and the delicious smell of djon-djon, a local dish of dark rice with mushrooms.

Amidst this chaotic landscape in downtown, where no one was willing to accompany me to visit due to the insecure environment, a series of ornate architectural jewels captured my attention. They are the Gingerbread houses, Haitian style, which flourished in Port-au-Prince at the turn of the 19^th century. Many of these colored wooden structures, with witch-hat spires and carved cornices surprisingly survived the earthquake. As they deteriorate over time, there exists no systematic strategy to save and preserve this precious heritage.

Gingerbread house – city centre Port-au-Prince

Emerging Slums

Moving out of the hectic center, I make my way towards the outskirts of Port-au-Prince where another shocking backdrop appears and continues for kilometers. A phenomenon, which I define as “Emerging Slums”, by which randomly located tents are transforming into shelters, slowly being developed with more permanent materials. Slums for kilometers rise from dispersed arbitrary camps, with no attention or supervision provided to plan and organize this growth and sprawl of informal urbanization, as they fade into the outer city’s landscape.

It is worth noting here that while Haiti’s urbanization rate is rapidly increasing, it is still far behind other neighboring Caribbean countries. Two-thirds of the country’s population still lives in rural areas, meaning that the appearance of additional bidonvilles is likely to occur soon.

Emerging slums – outskirts of Port-au-Prince

Life in the “Republic of NGOs”

Since 1971 when the international community shifted its policy towards providing aid to NGOs rather than outsourcing it to the government in order to combat corruption, increasing numbers of NGOs and international organizations began working in the slums and poor areas of Port-au-Prince. Despite the recent efforts of the Interim Reconstruction Commission to coordinate the aid system, the government is still unaware of many of the activities of NGOs in the country. Nevertheless, the population holds the government accountable when a disaster or other tragic event occurs. Between 1984 and 2010, the number of NGOs in Haiti increased from 200 to over 10,000 and only 500 are officially registered with the government [The Economist, 2010]. Surely, the number of organizations has considerably increased since the earthquake.

Petionville, one of the wealthier neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, is where most of the NGOs are located. Living an NGO life is a very particular experience, since their presence is exceedingly obvious and their status a privileged one by local standards. There are particular activities, places, foods and bars, that only NGO staff can enjoy and afford. Even though they don’t live in completely segregated neighborhoods or work places, they live in a segregated society and network of people.

Montana swimming pool – Petionville, Port-au-Prince

Ironically, in contrast to many other developing countries that strive to attract tourists, the long-term presence of foreigners in the form of NGOs–as opposed to tourists–has brought with it upper-class homes instead of resorts, elaborate restaurants, bars and supermarkets instead of touristic venues. They serve a specific demand and a certain customer. Where most of the materials and goods are imported, inflated prices are imposed. It resembles living on an island within the island; the “western” places sticking out like a sore thumb among street vendors, mobile informal pharmacies, handmade liquors on the street and temporary informal fruit stands in the ravines.

While my interest and character draws me towards broader comprehension of local traditions and manners, I encounter the difficulties of integration, as I am still a foreigner from that other “island”. Observing and attentively reflecting on my position in between the two islands, I can’t help but become a skeptic participant who ponders ways of deeper integration and less dependency on both.

All photos by Nazanin Mehregan

Architecture for Humanity has released an update on our recently completed design studio collaboration and on-site workshop near Petropolis, Brazil to create a public community and sports facility for this area heavily destroyed by last year’s floods:

“As part of larger reconstruction efforts, Architecture for Humanity and the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC) in Barcelona recently completed a design studio and on-site workshop. In the coming months, Architecture for Humanity Intern, Carolina Libardi, will work with the local project team to develop the design for the sport and recreation center — a hub for a new 61-unit post-disaster housing development and a go-to place for members of and visitors to the greater community.”

We look forward to seeing how the project moves forward.

For more about the workshop and site visit, don’t miss our student blog Rio Floods Project series.