'Human'(itarian) Design/Architecture

Interdisciplinary Trio

Architecture --> Humanitarian design
Nature          --> Sustainable/environmentally friendly
Faith/spiritual-> Self awareness, community building & sharing


 Here's a short backstory...

He was big. Not in the 'physical' sense but he had a 'big' personality.
He also had many wrinkles on his face and white and grey hair.
He most probably was retired.

Meet Tony.

--

G'day & Chao (hello in Vietnamese),

I went to a 'Faith & Environment' workshop a couple of weeks ago, run by ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change). In one of the workshop sessions, we had to go around the circle sharing our 'eco-conversion' story. I was fortunate that an architect was sitting next to me. One man overheard our conversation and he abruptly stopped our conversation and shared his feats to the group...

He was a good man though. His personality was a bit strong though. I understand though.

--

Despite him being not so popular in the group, he sat next to me in the next workshop session. We managed to chat a little (even though I tried not to - the facilitator was talking but I also wanted to respect him too). He showed me his accomplishment as a 'builder' and 'designer.' He apparently won the 'World's Best Disaster House' design competition many years ago. He walked up to me and showed his certificate - Wow, I thought. I should learn more from him. Design competition - I would love to try that one day.

 He wrote down his contact details and I met him yesterday.

I respected him even more when he apologised for his 'behaviour' on that day. I nodded my head and I told him that I understand. He went over the specifications and drawing details I needed to do for his 'Bambcrete House' design.

His winning competition design of a tsunami build consists of:
- PVC pipes
- Bamboo reinforcements
- Concrete fill

I will draft these in the next week or so, I will post them up soon (due to copyright issues, please keep these drawings to yourself).

--

Interdisciplinary reflections...

- I got to know him as a fellow citizen on Earth. There was no one other than myself - he was being himself.
- He has a life story - narrated here & can be read here (news)
- He has a great gift - creating 'innovative' solutions. That's why he's an engineer/technologist.
- His life serving mission - to help the poor in Indonesia.

Interdisciplinary applications...

- I need to look more into 'humanitarian design/emergency housing' ...
- Can I combine my knowledge with 'sustainable/environmental design?' What kind of spaces/house can I design? In which countries? What type of build? - 

Interdisciplinary keywords...

- ethnography
- social & cultural studies
- community planning and design
- philanthropy
- design & community ACTIVISM
- local politics
- design for the 90%
- volunteer/altruistic
Interdisciplinary questions:
How can we be an architect and use it to serve people like Tony and his skills? Does it change the notion of what an architect is? 
What do you know/think about humanitarian design? What kind of curriculum does your school/uni/college provide about this type of design?

What is it's role today(in Australia)? Any humanitarian architect firms in Australian you know of?


--

That's all for this post fellow citizens. All comments/thoughts/opinions of the questions above are welcome. 

Until the next post...

Let's connect the dots about the world, dialogue about the world and serve people in the world...

Julianne

Comments

Post a Comment

What are your thoughts on the work industry? Architecture? Actually, anything you like to share... because everything is 'inter-related.'

Popular posts from this blog

Designers/architects as local community leaders

Image
G'day & Chao. Greetings, I don't know why but the thought of 'blogging' or 'writing' on this platform was not on my mind lately. II've been going out in life in different branches and have not kept in mind about the 'reflection' process... I wanted to talk about my current involvement with a young adult committee group in my local community, Brimbank Youth Ambassadors ( BYA). Now, just coming out of university with a worldview revolving around design and the built environment, I was flabbergasted with the notion of the authority of ' young adults & the community. ' In architecture school, I was told that we could be 'designers' or 'architects' who have the power of designing spaces for society to use/inhabit. BYA brought be a new perspective - a perspective that any young adult can be a 'designer' (beyond designing spaces) - a collaborative and interdisciplinary voice to make community better, thus impr
Continue reading...

'ky niem' or 'experiences' in your life i.e career

"I'm doing work experience..." "Work experience... paid?" "No. But I feel like it's a job." "No. I mean paid work. Are you going to look for a job." ^ This was a conversation on the train home from work today with my old high school friend. Can you read the 'tone' of the conversation? On the exterior, I was trying to maintain a 'composed' demeanour but inside I was frustrated. Why does this world care about money PLUS job. Can we work for free? Are we 'secure' when we work WITH money?! (I have been volunteering and I find its work quite fulfilling and satisfying without 'tangible' rewards of a man-made system). Okay so I may be over-dramatic and missing out on some main points like: - You need money to pay back to the things you 'owe' the bank, council, services you use... - You need to 'save' up money so I can use the money for 'something...' - You need money b
Continue reading...

Career update after six month post-graduate period

G'day & Chao (hello in Vietnamese), It has been a while since I last updated (goodness, I realised I have an array of pages/blogs that I write on and I leave this site out). It is early October - happy new month to you! I hope your endeavours and goals for this month are exciting like mine (or not, everyone's experiences are different 😀). I just got back from a short trip overseas and I have already ventured on a new beginning or should I say a new 'prototype...' The timing of this work is interesting... Funny how things get lined up... or other events obstruct your vision/goal/aim... Short story: I attended an 'environmental' event run by my local council near my house. It was 'sustainability-related' and I wanted to go to learn about what the council talks about in terms of 'sustainability' and I intended to meet the Brimbank team to discuss volunteering opportunities. I emailed one of the environmental officers and she refer
Continue reading...