I grew up in an area of Brooklyn, New York, called Fort Greene, a beautiful neighbourhood but flanked by some of the worst social housing in the city.
In America we refer to social housing as the ‘projects’, and they are places to be avoided: a collection of multi-story brick apartment blocks with small, grilled windows and concrete surroundings, devoid of emotion. Although the aesthetic might change slightly, I’ve found that when it comes to social housing, this environment tends to be the norm in most of the major cities around the world.
Social housing does not need to be such a drain on community and government funds, however, and the situation is slowly changing. Architects such as Santiago-based Alejandro Aravena are revolutionising social housing and developing plans on tight budgets without cutting out the dignity and emotional connection one hopes to find in a home. In 2003 Aravena was commissioned to build dwellings for 100 families in Iquique, a city in northern Chile, with a budget of $7,500 (in government subsidies) per family for both the land and the house. The money was enough to buy either the city-centre site or build the homes, but not both. Faced with this dilemma, Aravena decided to build half a house for each family. He chose to construct the half the residents wouldn’t be able to build themselves, including the structure, the roof, the kitchen and a bathroom. As such, Aravena created low-income residences that could be adapted as the families grew and changed, with the homes gaining value in time instead of deteriorating. Today, the once-banal concrete structures have been added to and personalised, resulting in a neighbourhood of varying styles and colours. The message is clear: these are people’s homes, and therefore they will provide and will last. They are a far cry from the brown brick tower blocks of New York City.
The Iquique project is one in a handful of social housing projects that Aravena has tackled. His practice, Elemental, is referred to on the website as a ‘do tank’ and is dedicated to ‘the design and implementation of urban projects of social interest and public impact.’ It is an architectural practice with an obvious social agenda that sets it apart from many of the popular firms today. Another distinguishing feature of the firm is that it is an equal partnership between the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the oil company Copec. It is this movement outside the parameters of architecture that makes
Elemental unique.
However, Aravena is not the only architect trying to improve city life. Both the practice MVRDV, based in Rotterdam, and the Parisian architect Édouard François have created developments that modify and improve upon typical social housing plans and urban living. MVRDV’s Buitenplaats Ypenburg in Hageneiland, the Netherlands, aimed to increase social diversification and mixage by cutting and splitting the typical rows of prefab units. The result is a much more spontaneous and energetic environment. In Paris, Édouard François’s Eben Bio is an entire housing block composed of 100 social apartments and artists’ ateliers. By combining pre-fabricated red shingles, flowerpots and timber pillars, François morphed the traditionally unremarkable tower block into contemporary housing that would promote a diverse community and add value to the neighbourhood.
It is apparent that it is not only government and social organisations that have the ability to make a positive impact on society – architects have a role to play, too. As Aravena says, ‘The biggest challenge today is to try to engage non-architectural issues – meaning poverty, less segregation in cities, less violence – with our specific knowledge, which is to design and do projects.’ It is this belief and people such as Aravena that get me excited about
pursuing architecture.
Text by Jasmine Labeau.