Architecture Meets Social Engagement in 5 Awesome Projects
Oftentimes, acclaimed architecture projects are synonymous with high-end buildings or mega-developments. These projects can inject life into our urban fabric, but are rarely located in under-served communities or offer everyday programming that engages local residents.
However, within the past couple of months, two of the biggest prizes in art — the Pritzker Prize and the Turner Prize — awarded their honors to two sets of architects and designers who successfully bridge the gap between design and social engagement.
1. Quinta Monroy Housing, Iquique, Chile by Alejandro Aravena and Elemental
Alejandro Aravena was recently awarded the 2016 Pritzker Prize as a practitioner who “epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect”.
One of his most famous social projects is the Quinta Monroy Housing in northern Chile. In 2003, Aravena’s firm Elemental was commissioned by the Chilean government to provide nearly 100 low-income housing units in central Iquique, where communities had been illegally and informally occupying land. Each family was only given $7,500 per unit to cover the cost.
Elemental’s solution was to partially build each house with the most fundamental infrastructures, allowing the families to move in right away, but also providing the framework for incremental expansions. Over time, the families were able to add on to the houses with their own customizations and gradual investment.
2. Inner-City Arts, Los Angeles by Michael Maltzan Architecture
As Elemental provided the design framework for underprivileged residents to achieve homeownership, architect Michael Maltzan transformed an abandoned auto body shop into a refuge for disadvantaged children.
Located in the dangerous Skid Row neighborhood, Inner-City Arts (ICA) offers art classes to around 10,000 school children at no cost. A few years later, Maltzan developed a master plan that anticipated the organization’s influx of funding and expansion plans.
The airy, yet intimate interior and exterior spaces are flexible and adaptable. The campus provides a sense of community for the children while providing security measures, all without compromising the open aesthetic.
3. Maggie’s Centres, UK by various architects
Like the dearth of well-designed educational facilities, the needs of healthcare patients are often overlooked. Maggie’s Centres are managed by the Maggie Keswick Jencks Cancer Caring Trust as drop-in centers for cancer patients who are in need of support.
The trust was founded by the late Maggie Jencks, who along with her husband, architecture critics Charles Jencks, believed in the importance of uplifting and relaxing spaces for cancer patients. The trust commissions well-known architects for its different centres around the world.
4. Parque biblioteca, Medellín, Colombia by various architects
Libraries are also important urban amenities, especially for those who don’t have regular access to them. Medellín is situated in a valley and residents who can’t afford housing in the city’s center often settle into informal neighbourhoods on the hillsides.
These informal settlements grew rapidly along with poverty and crime. When Sergio Fajardo was elected as Medellín’s mayor in 2004, he implemented a project that created libraries and parks (parque bibliotecas) in five informal neighborhoods.
The libraries serve as community centers that promote education, while the parks act as transit nodes to create important connections between neighborhoods and the city. (Some thoughts on my brief visit to one of the parque biblioteca can be found here).
5. Granby Four Streets, Liverpool, UK by Assemble
The 2015 Turner Prize was awarded to Assemble, a London-based art and design collective that works closely with local communities, for their Granby Four Streets project.
A series of failed regeneration policies had caused areas of inner-Liverpool to end up in a state of neglect. To counter the situation, residents in Granby Four Streets established a community land trust in 2011 in order to rehabilitate the neighborhood.
Hired by the community, Assemble worked with residents to transform old buildings into quality living spaces that met new building standards (and a tight budget).
The next phrase of the project involves creating winter gardens in abandoned lots throughout the area in order to bring in commerce. Well-designed spaces and a solid master plan framework bring hope and an opportunity to engage residents in the transformation of their neighborhood.
