Small Scale, Big Change: Architecture can be a powerful tool for social change

By Mark R. Gould
An exhibition of eleven contemporary architectural projectsschools, community centers and low cost housing designed to improve the quality of life in underserved communitiesis currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City through Jan. 3, 2011.

Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement highlights projects on five continents that use
architecture as a powerful means for confronting social inequality. The sites include the U.S., Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, France, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Bangladesh and Lebanon. Andres Lepik, curator of contemporary architecture, and Margot Weller, curatorial assistant, organized the exhibit for MoMA. Architecture can be a powerful instrument to affect social change. On a small scale, a well-designed school can positively influence individual learning and help children to identify themselves as parts of larger community. On a large scale, urban planning that offers not only the basic requirements of housing, transportation, and commerce but also parks, public squares and cultural facilities can increase the quality of life for all inhabitants, bolster civic pride and has a positive impact on a citys economy. But successful architectureis far from reaching all segments of global society including large parts of the population that do not even have housing that meets basic needs, writes Andres Lepik of MoMA. According to the United Nations, roughly one billion of the worlds population of some 6.75 billion people live in extreme poverty, with an income of less than $150 per year and limited access to clean water, education and health care.The past decade or so has seen a growing number of architects take a new look at the economics of building for the underserved

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Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement

Andres Lepik More info at MoMAstore.org

Here are descriptions of some of the projects. For more details, visit the MoMa website.

South Africa: Museum One of the centers of the anti apartheid movement, the township of Port Elizabeth wanted to build a museum to memorialize the struggle for freedom. As the museum was being built, a local committee insured local needs were being met. Unskilled workers from the area were hired. Built from concrete, the museum is a functional site, harmonious with its surroundings. Further development will include the building of housing, a library, a city archive and other communal space. More than 200 jobs were created by the project. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Rail line In this high crime area with few public amenities, the architect proposed to elevate a major rail line adjacent to the railroad to revive a long public park beneath it. The new space offered walkways, bicycle paths and athletic fields. The raising of the rail line removes physical and psychological barriers between the residents of this area and the rest of city.

Iquique, Chile: Low income housing To create housing for nearly 100 low income households on a 1.25 acre site, a variation on a traditional row house was developed. The row houses were built with concrete and equipped with the barest of basics: Plumbing but no fittings for kitchen and bathroom. Residents moved in and began finishing their spaces at their own expenses and at a pace that their income allowed. One thousand more expandable units have been built in Latin America and one thousands are in development.

West African nation of Burkina Faso: Primary school The small public school in a village of 2500 was in bad shape. Nearly half of the residents live below the poverty line. The architect hoped to use eco-friendly building techniques to pilot future building projects in the area. Traditional brick mud compressed by man powered machines was used. The whole community worked together to build the school, and attendance is high. A library and a womans center will be built in the future.

Bangladesh: Handmade school Local unskilled laborers were trained in building techniques to construct the school from earth with local clay, sand and straw added for durability. The completed school has thick earthen walls that enclose three ground floor classrooms as well as a system of caves in which students play.

Los Angeles, CA: Inner-city arts center Inner-City Arts is a refuge for at-risk children and impoverished youngsters who want to engage the arts. A retrofitted and repurposed abandoned garage in Skid Row was developed on a one acre site. The space has several

airy areas, where youngsters gather to play and explore. The exterior stucco walls are painted bright white, a color that sends a positive message, not one of neglect. The space inspires creativity and promise.

Paris, France: Transformation of a housing project. Midcentury modernist housing developments have long been criticized in Parris. Critics say they isolate residents. Many such sites have been torn down in recent years. One of these sites is being retrofitted and living space expanded to increase room for residents. Critics now say the space gives new life to an old style of housing.

Lebanon: Housing for the fisherman of Tyre. Chaos and combat have hit hard the areas where fishermen live. Most earn as little as $15 per day. A parcel of land was donated, and a vibrant modern housing system created to give a sense of community was built. The project, which covers nine residential blocks, turns the buidling inward, creating a protected interior courtyard, offsetting chaotic conditions on the outside.

Caracas, Venezuela: Cable car system to link communities In this city of five million people, many live in barrios or informal settlements. Because the barrios are not recognized by the government, they do not receive civic services, including a connection to the public transit. Plans to create a new cable car system have resulted in the building of five stations. Regular services started earlier this year. Some 40,000 barrio dwellers have access to the system and 15,000 riders can use it daily. Another line is currently being planned. You are here: Home > Projects >

HOUSING for the FISHERMEN of TYRE, Lebanon by Hashim Sarkis Studios

Project Details: Location: Abbasiyeh, South Lebanon Type: Housing - Residential Client: Al Baqaa Housing Cooperative and the Association for the Development of Rural Areas in Southern Lebanon; Yousif Khalil, Director Donors: Greek Catholic Church of Tyre, Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, and several private donors Architects: Hashim Sarkis Studios www.hashimsarkis.com Design Team: Hashim Sarkis, Anuraj Shah, Erkin Ozay, Ziad Jamaleddine, Paul Kaloustian, Brian Mulder, David Hill, Cem Celik, Roberto Pasini, Tarek Salloum, Mete Sonmez Structural Design: Mohamed Chahine and Mounir Mabsout

Project Manager: Mohamed Chahine Electro-Mechanical: AURORA Contractor: EBCO-Bitar Date of Completion: May 2008 Budget: USD 1,800,000 Built-Up Area: 8,400 m2 (80 apartments at 75m2 +4 shops) Recognition: MUSEUM of MODERN ART, Small Scale, Big Change; BOSTON SOCIETY of ARCHITECTS DESIGN AWARD 2008; PHAIDON ATLAS of CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE; CITYSCAPE CITATION for HOUSING Photos: Joumana Jamhouri Illustration: Hashim Sarkis Studios

click image to enlarge - Interior courtyard

The fishermens community of Tyre, a city of 25,000 residents on the southern coast of Lebanon, has been suffering from a housing shortage and overcrowding. Fishermen of Tyre belong to one of the most marginalized socioeconomic groups in the country. Their families have no access to health and social insurance programs or retirement support schemes. An obsolete technology coupled with military and security considerations limit the possibility of fishing far beyond the seashore and thus result in serious overfishing. A continuous drop in the catch has yielded a systematic decline in the average income of many fishermen (15 USD per day decreasing to less than 7 USD during the winter season and bad weather). The fishermens families in Tyre were did not to benefit from the construction

boom that the region witnessed during the last three decades, due to their lack of financial resources or urban regulation and constraints in the old city quarters. Their small, old and damp houses have become overcrowded. Public health experts testify to the high levels of asthmatic and rheumatic problems amongst the members of this community.

Aerial View - click image to enlarge

In 1998, fishermen families from the city of Tyre organized themselves into the cooperative Al Baqaa. Through their partnership with the Association for Rural Development in south Lebanon (ADR) they were able to join efforts with the Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Tyre, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, as well as generous Lebanese locals and expatriates to support a social housing project. The project aims to provide housing to 80 families of young fishermen and at the same time to provide public spaces that serve as a platform for developing other productive, social as well as educational activities.

click image to enlarge - View from residential balcony

Construction funding came from various local and international organizations. The new site measured 0.7 hectare agricultural field outside Tyre, surrounded by tobacco fields, citrus orchards, a hospital, and chaotic development that mushroomed illegally during the war. A new master plan for Tyre allowed development in this area and replaced the agricultural road with a main road between Tyre and its hinterland. Most of the surrounding agricultural property was already being subdivided for speculative construction. The site will therefore be one of the few large-scale parcels in the area. Given the unpredictable conditions of the site and its distance from the city, the design introduces an organizational frame for the surrounding streets, new parcels and a variety of scales of public space. The form is made of an extended building (7.6 meters deep) that wraps on itself creating an internal road and a courtyard.

click image to enlarge - Lower Level Plan

The internal road prolongs the side street, provides access to the units and connects the two main access points. The complex preserves the scale of the agricultural field as a collective open space. The open space provides a common public garden and a playground. The courtyard is made up of two parts: a paved area with a collective water tank underneath and a planted area. This difference in treatment creates a difference in temperature, thereby increasing air movement during the hot summer days and enhancing cross-ventilation in the units. Instead of framing the parts with trees, trees are used to mark the entrances to the paths between buildings.

click image to enlarge - View of streetfront and gatehouse

click image to enlarge - Interior courtyard elevation

The landscape filters through these gaps between the buildings to the exterior, and thereby the connection between the interior open space and the street is emphasized. The trees are linked to the agricultural landscape: olives, a local variety of the ficus, poplars, palms and oranges are used. The oranges are reminiscent of the orange groves in the area and the poplars of the tree edges that defined waterways and created windbreaks. Each main floor unit has as mall garden that can be used for planting. The roof can also be used for planting, in particular the trellises, which can be used for grapevines a very typical feature of the regions houses. Car ownership is low among the co-op members. One parking space for every two units is sufficient. A common van is used to commute to the port. Most cars park on a piece of land separated from the main parcel by the new master plan. The parking will eventually be moved underground with a community auditorium built on the corner to complement the open space and street intersection.

click image to enlarge - Corner of interior courtyard

click image to enlarge - End facade

In order to avoid a closed, urban-block effect, the linear mass is broken down into a series of buildings separated by gaps that are used for public circulation. These spaces provide variety within the building volume. The corners are treated differently in response to various external conditions. For example, a small public space is created at the intersection of the main road and the secondary road, where a waiting area and a bus stop is located and a small thicket of ficus trees to shade the waiting area. Another small area along the main road between the building blocks provides space for an outdoor caf and a passage to the interior. A series of small passages lead from the outside perimeter to the interior courtyard at the main corners, heightening the porosity of the project.

click image to enlarge - Corner passageway and bridges

click image to enlarge - Passageway to interior courtyard

The fishermen insisted on maintaining equality among the units. To meet this requirement, particularly in terms of outdoor space and views, the units had to be different, depending on their location in plan. The project consists of 80 two-bedroom units, each about 86 square meters inside and about half the area in private outdoor space. The units are arranged in three types of blocks or groupings. The first type consists of simple one-story flats (simplexes) arranged around a common scissor stair. The second type of block consists of four duplexes, each duplex consisting of an open floor plan for living spaces and a second floor for bedrooms. This type is located around the main open space. All living floors have cross views and cross ventilation and are extended to the outside by private outdoors spaces (gardens and porches for the lower units and balconies and roof gardens for the upper units). The third type is a combination of duplexes and simplexes and is located at the corners of the main open space. There are nine total blocks (A to I); each has a separate entrance with a letter from the Arabic alphabet marking its doorway.

click image to enlarge - Residential block types and configuration

click image to enlarge - Stairway to roof terrace

click image to enlarge - Railing detail in an interior shared stairway

The exterior faade colors are grey-blues, while the interior courtyard faades are yellow-oranges. At the corners, these colors blend. Similarly colored surfaces form blocks that mediate between the overall building scale and smaller elements like windows, doorways and balconies. The public stairs are left open on the sides in order to help ventilate them and decrease the need for maintenance and electric lighting. In the simplex blocks, the balconies of the units extend in front of the landings in order to shade them. The public stairs in the duplex buildings are reduced to one long flight that runs through the building and is open on both sides.

click image to enlarge - Exterior elevations

click image to enlarge - Interior elevations

click image to enlarge - Side elevations

click image to enlarge - Stair sections