Current world population is 8.2 billion out of which currently 130.8 million people are forcibly displaced. UNHCR, the agency of the UN which helps provide ‘Shelter’ to people who are forced to flee from conflict or have no nationality due to the conflict. Established in 1950 after the Second World War to accommodate the people affected by war. It has a budget allotment of $10.62 billion in 2024 to provide adequate assistance in displacement situations.
Across the world as the countries develop their Nation and Infrastructure primarily at the cost of the environment, humans are increasingly at war not only with each other but also with nature. Thus the growing number of Natural disasters each year and the increasing number of human conflicts in Syria, Congo, Ukraine, and now Lebanon and Palestine have displaced millions.
Humanity though somehow survives and finds a way to grow and thrive even in adversities. In India the Eastern and Northern region were primarily subjected to this major human displacement when the country got Independence. We have our grandparents’ generation who still share their stories of partition and how they lived for months in temporary refugee camps arranged by the Royal Families and Kings of respective regions. Ever since then our response to disaster management in India has not improved at all and we still respond by providing the most futile temporary tent structures.
Natural disasters like earthquake, tsunami, begin and end but human conflicts which once begin continue for years and render the population helpless and homeless even stateless. After Covid all humans have had to forcibly shake themselves up and shift their focus from endless struggles of the acquisition of comforts and luxuries in life to the radical and dire immediacy of life. As per the latest UN statistics 1 in every 69 people or 1.5% of the world population is currently forcibly displaced and this has only doubled in the last decade. The refugee population also has increased every year since the past 12 years and currently almost every part of the world is affected by human displacement. UNHCR is the sole worldwide agency which helps Refugees by providing them with basic minimum tents where other better possibilities and solutions cannot be achieved.
Role of architects in Disaster Mitigation efforts
Architecture profession more often is associated with actualising the needs and whims of the people with money and a Natural Disaster is not the most ideal playing field for somebody dreaming of starting an architecture practice. The question here is more of personal choice and the Role that architecture can play in our society. Shelter is the most basic requirement of any human being. Currently …….. Are homeless and millions are displaced. The housing crisis is a sad reality of our times and covering this gap requires an efficient and socially responsible architecture, as focus has to be not only to build but build thoughtfully and contextually.
Why contextually, as it is the only sustainable way forward. What is sustainable is also an exercise that needs to be undertaken with each project as what is sustainable or Green Rated on paper might not be locally available, for example, if some place has more rocks on site then the mud for your adobe bricks might have to be brought from afar making the whole exercise unsustainable.
This demand for housing and the increasing humanitarian crisis call for immediate and thoroughly designed solutions that can last and deliver. The Architect in his own right is a crisis manager, coordinating between various agencies, these skills and design knowledge are extremely helpful in humanitarian efforts. Thus the amount of work that architects can deliver in collaboration with engineers, the local population, and the government to find adequate housing solutions for displaced people is humongous. It is an opportunity for Architects who have a social calling to put to use their knowledge of the built environment for the public good. Architects’ role gets widened in Humanitarian Architecture from being mere designers catering to the bourgeoisie to going right to the bottom and solving dire problems.
Humanitarian Architecture Practice
The pioneer of humanitarian architecture is the 2014 Pritzker Winner Shigeru Ban. He began his Voluntary Architects Network in 1995 after his paper tube houses were allowed to be built after the Rwanda Conflict in 1994. His designs make use of paper tubes as structural members and he works with volunteers and locals to create the shelters and other small scale solutions that are required to provide basic human dignity. He recently made use of the famous paper tubes and cloth to create partitions for the displaced people housed in a big hall in Ukraine , as shown in the image below.
Besides Shigeru Bana, a lot of other organisations are also actively working in this field for two decades now. One of the very first organisations being ‘Architecture for Humanity’ started by Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohrr in 1999 to provide shelter to the refugees of Kosovo. A pioneer organisation that began with the very same thought to contribute to society and believed in the concept of Open Source Architecture, that is a design that has been successfully implemented and tested at one place could be replicated freely at another. That would help us humans prepare in advance for the impending disasters in similar geographical locations or situations of conflict.
In South Asia we have an exemplary humanitarian architect Yasmeen Lari from Pakistan. She was the first woman to start her own studio in 1964, and she practised modern commercial architecture for over 30 years and then started her Zero Carbon Architecture revolution in 2000 after retirement. This new mission of hers is a combination of ecology and an effort to democratise architecture. Lari emphasises building with the community and catering to their needs rather than the heads of power. This is her Barefoot Entrepreneurship model. She teaches skills to the local barefoot population of villages to empower themselves. She started this work after the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and has helped rehabilitate people of the affected area by re-building 40,000 houses using local materials and techniques. She strongly advocates the use of Natural Materials and use of vernacular techniques as being the way forward for architecture as a whole and especially in the field of humanitarian architecture.
Future is Modular and Sustainable
Humanitarian aid as we know is supposed to be quick and efficient, but besides the urgency, it also needs to pay heed to the requirements of the people. The situations that occur call for varied solutions, Temporary short-term shelters, Temporary long-term shelters, Permanent housing solutions, etc. In order to resolve and provide design solutions to all these issues requires us not only to agree to be a collaborator rather than the design head who is focussed on Aesthetics. Modular construction is a solution that can be implemented quickly on-site, modular construction is the way. Modular Prefabricated panels can be used to make shelters that are built to last and can also be reused.
The increasing role of technology and Artificial Intelligence can also not be ruled out. Technology in terms of 3D printing can be used to construct as and when required on-site and also leads to less wastage as anything that is required from a bolt to a wall can be constructed on-site. Various material options can be used based on the climate and the mixes can also be designed in a climate-sensitive manner. Thus 3-D printing has a bioclimatic character. Various companies have come up with 3D printing in the U.S.A. San Francisco-based company Icon claims to have erected a 55 to 75 square metre home in 24 hours for $4,000 whereas the average cost for the same-sized house made of conventional materials such as concrete or brick and mortar is, at least, 40 times as much. 3-D printing can be the central focus for the various humanitarian efforts and projects and deal with these issues. 3D printing provides you with a continuous thermal envelope, and zero waste, it is faster, has various options of materials, and can be replicated as much as you want. It seems to have much greater possibilities in humanitarian efforts. Currently, in Ukraine a lot of 3D printed buildings are being constructed to help develop and get the cities back on their feet, one such project is of a primary school by Tea,4UA being carried out by COBOD printer. So in the coming years, we will have enough examples to learn from and replicate in 3D Printing.
It may be seen and it is still concentrated in the first world and it may not be a panacea for all disasters but it has great potential. The other options that are as effective would be developing local development models and training with local materials and evolving local solutions for local problems. Human dignity and needs do not diminish with their predicament and great designs with basic materials and use of technology can be achieved.
References:
- Making a difference, Author Sudhakar J, January 13,2019, Available at: https://www.thehindu.com/education/making-a-difference/article25967803.ece,(Accessed : 17.10.2024)
- Humanitarian architects work from the ground up, Rachel David, 23/11/2015, https://www.scidev.net/global/features/humanitarian-architects-homes-disaster/( Accessed: 19.10.2024)
- Subramanya, Karthik & Kermanshachi, Sharareh. (2021). Exploring Utilisation of the 3D Printed Housing as Post-Disaster Temporary Shelter for Displaced People. 10.1061/9780784483978.061, (Accessed: 19.10.2024)
- https://www.unhcr.org/in/global-trends
- Exploring 3D Printed Housing As A Solution For Post-Disaster Temporary Shelters, Author Tom Brennecke, March 1,2023, Available at :https://parametric-architecture.com/exploring-3d-printed-housing-as-a-solution-for-post-disaster-temporary-shelters/
- Architecture as Radical Repair: Yasmeen Lari, Author: Beatrice Galilee, 25 September ,2023, Available at: https://triennale.org/en/magazine/architecture-radical-repair-yasmeen-lari, (Accessed: 20.10.2024)
