Humanitarian architecture is a transformative approach to design and construction, prioritizing the needs of marginalized, displaced, and disaster-stricken communities. By blending architecture with social responsibility, it has the potential to uplift individuals, foster resilience, and contribute to long-term development. Humanitarian architecture addresses humanitarian crises in the form of natural disasters, poverty, conflict, and disease. It may encompass the design of shelters, the provision of clean water access, and the creation of community spaces. Projects for humanitarian architecture often engage the local community, stakeholders, sponsors, and other professionals to create just and ethical designs that address the needs of the community.
Addressing Immediate Needs
Humanitarian architecture addresses humanitarian crises in the form of natural disasters, poverty, conflict, and disease. It may encompass the design of shelters, the provision of clean water access, and the creation of community spaces. Projects for humanitarian architecture often engage the local community, stakeholders, sponsors, and other professionals to create just and ethical designs that address the needs of the community. For instance, Shigeru Ban’s innovative use of materials like cardboard tubes in disaster-relief projects demonstrates how architecture can offer cost-effective, sustainable, and dignified solutions to those in crisis.
Promoting Social Cohesion
Good humanitarian architecture helps to give a sense of community and belonging. It creates spaces that encourage interaction, collaboration, and mutual support. Schools, community centers, and marketplaces built with this approach can transform fragmented groups into united communities. For instance, the Makoko Floating School in Nigeria addressed educational challenges in a flood-prone area but became a symbol of hope and resilience for the local community.
Enhancing Sustainability
Humanitarian architecture is all about sustainability. Projects are usually done using materials sourced locally, eco-friendly, and renewable energy systems, water management, and waste reduction. This way, structures are both environmentally responsible but also affordable and maintainable by the community.
Challenges and Criticism
Humanitarian architecture, despite its good intentions, has several drawbacks, including funding constraints, bureaucratic barriers, and cultural misunderstandings. Critics have also pointed out instances of designs imposed without considering the local customs or long-term feasibility. It requires the collaboration of architects, governments, NGOs, and the community itself to overcome these issues.
One prominent example highlighting the challenges and criticism in humanitarian architecture is the Make It Right Foundation project in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, USA. This initiative, founded by actor Brad Pitt in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina, aimed to rebuild homes using sustainable and innovative design while providing affordable housing to residents. However, despite its good intentions, the project faced significant issues that illustrate common pitfalls in humanitarian architecture.
Key Challenges and Criticisms
Poor durability and structural failures such as many homes built under this project suffered from serious structural issues within a few years, such as water damage, mold growth, and material degradation. Some were even declared unsafe or uninhabitable. Critics argue that some of the design choices and experimental materials were not suitable for the humid and flood-prone environment of New Orleans. Despite its collaborative efforts with international architects like Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne, the designs were somewhat not practical in several aspects; thus, most residents felt that specific needs were overlooked as well as local context to let the architect try out new architectural ideas.
This case illustrates the importance of the local engagement and contextual design involving residents and understanding the environmental, cultural, and economic context is important for the success of any humanitarian architecture project. long-term feasibility and maintenance of the designs which must emphasize durability, affordability, and ease of maintenance over purely aesthetic or experimental features. sustainable yet practical solutions must be balanced with practicality, especially in resource-constrained settings.
The Make It Right Foundation project is an excellent illustration of how humanitarian architecture can face huge challenges if the needs, context, and long-term feasibility of local needs are not fully integrated into the design and execution process. The project highlights the need for holistic, collaborative, and context-sensitive approaches to lasting positive impact.
A Catalyst for Change
Humanitarian architecture is not only the building of structures; it builds hope, resilience, and opportunity. By tackling both short-term and long-term needs, it transforms vulnerable communities into self-reliant and thriving societies. In doing so, it puts into focus the power of design as a force for social good, changing the role of architecture in the world.
Humanitarian architecture encompasses a broader, long-term commitment to addressing human needs and social issues through design. The primary objective of humanitarian architecture is to address systemic social inequalities, promote resilience, and support sustainable development.
Citations:
- Design like you give A damn: Architectural responses to humanitarian crises (2011). London: Thames and Hudson.
- (No date) Case study: Starting over in the lower ninth ward | architect magazine. Available at: https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/case-study-starting-over-in-the-lower-ninth-ward_o (Accessed: 04 January 2025).
