a wo(a)ndering welby

It’s been quite awhile since my last post and quite a lot of things have been happening.

After volunteering with The Architecture Centre in Bristol I took my first Architectural Assistant position as an Intern with Engineering Ministries International. I worked in their Canada office and you can find out some more about what I got up to here nomadic.wel.by.

It was a time of learning both professionally and personally and I am eager to continuing growing and learning in my pursuit of architecture. Design is about so much more than ink on a page or a well worded philosophy but rather it is about people. It all comes back to people, to ‘the end users’, it comes back to our belief that we can creatively solve problems. Whether through bricks and mortar, suggestion in design, education or listening. Whatever our chosen tool it is possible for us to cause change and improve the outcome.

We just have to recognise it is bigger and think better than what has come before.

We chose to strive and break boundaries. So regardless of whether we ourselves are memorable we can make a difference as we looked for a better angle which causes change.

Now I do intend to investigate this, but I just heard a worrying remark (I wont call it fact just yet).

My skin literally tingled with the enormity of this statement –

In the UK we only have 100 harvests left.

That is because development, and industrial advancement, and whatever else you can think of has been taking land, and eroding the quality of soils.

Globally there are only 60 harvest left.

That isn’t something easily unheard. Quite frankly it kind of makes you want to jump up and demand an explanation. (If it doesn’t I’m afraid I’m telling you it should).

We are continually pointing out that there are issues that cannot be put off for other generations, but the reality is that it is starting to be within our lifetimes that disastrous change could happen unless we take some action.

Today I saw a flyer – bold typeface and funky graphics call for us to #BuildaBetterBritain

RIBA are responding to the forthcoming election and calling us to consider how the Government responds to and respects the importance of the built environment.

I’m all for RIBA championing that we ask what our role is, how do our local MP’s respond to the built environment?

It is after all a game of politics, as most things are.

Regardless of whether this is simply astute advertising from RIBA, it is still an important conversation. One which the RIBA is clearly invested in, and one that we should take an interest in to.

Architecture and the Built Environment is so much more than bricks and mortar, and sometimes it isn’t even that! It is about how we live in the places we create and how this impacts our lifestyle, our health, and our environment. It is about us, not inanimate objects.

How we interact with space, and participate in a the built environment is interesting. It may not be something we often consider but trust me it is interesting. For example let us consider the train station.

This is a meeting place, a transitional space, and normally a very busy place. The majority of inhabitants are transient. Perhaps staying for an hour, prehaps staying for 5 minutes. Therefore the logic of the space must be clear. For the commuter who has their route home down to a fine art, to the tourist running for the last train the route is virtually the same and must be explicit. There is also the obvious commonality needed across train stations because of function. This does not prevent innovation, but it does mean that functioning platforms, barrier controls and other key elements must be accommodated.

Therefore when you observe a station there should be clear signage, and often specific oneway routes. That is part of the design. That is not part of our human response, because you will also see the blatant ignoring of these good intentions (!). Especially in a digital age where everything is virtually at our finger tips, and often instant we do not often like to wait. We rush, we bussle, and we sometimes flout the oneway rules.

We create the place, we give it character, spirit and ambiance. I’m afraid that as beautiful as station building can be, and no matter how interesting the space might be, they are shells without the movement of trains and people bring them to life. For one thing they were never designed to be static [in their use or their habitation].

Travel epicentres like train stations are rich with stories – we see the commuter, the family who travels, or those reconnecting, we see tourists, and nervous job applicants, we see a whole human mess of people and individuality, and history. It is interesting because it is us, we affect our stories. Though we can never know all the stories and reasons for those who we travel around with, we all accidentally participate in each others day. Part of our experience is altered – London is hectic and full and busy because we travel alongside multitudes of people, most of whom are hectic and busy, Morchard Road is sleepy and gentle, and open because it is one platform behind a converted station building with a few trains and, if your lucky, a few other commuters for company. Their locations and designs contribute to the experience, but their habitation gives them voice.

RIBA is asking us to actively consider the built environment, and ask how our Local Authorities, and central Government are responding to it. We can #BuildaBetterBritain because we have people who are considering and proposing responses to the issues, but we need the backing of designers, and the recognition of Government. So that systems, policies, and ultimately commissions do respond to the needs of our environment in positive and lasting ways. Considering context, suitability, sustainability and habitation.

The RIBA report – found here – starts with the worryingly brutal statement that, “We need to retrofit our homes, offices, hospitals and shops at a rate of one property every minute if we are to meet our 2020 targets.”.

We haven’t been realistic, or we were but policies and action didn’t keep up. We want a better Britain, which celebrates its unique approaches from city to city and town to town. Considering not only the buildings, but the places in between.

When introducing their approach to Schools in the RIBA report they make an interesting and important point about children’s emotional development. If we continue to overlook the important effect built design has on behaviour and psychi we just pay for it further down the line in other avenues. Not only that but the use of cheap and soulless design materials perpetuates subconcious beliefs that children are not highly valued. That although education is important, it is adequate to provide the bare minimum and aspire to ‘getting by’ not pushing for dreams.

There was recently viral coverage of a school in New York. It all began with one picture, and one student saying they were most grateful for their principal who always encouraged and affirmed her scholars. (Noteably calling them scholars not students, and having purple as a school colour because it is the colour of royalty.) It may just seem like a positive message, and a good teacher, but add to that the schools location in a poor, overlook, and stereotyped neighbourhood. People don’t expect these children to aspire, let alone complete High School. How terribly depressing that the social economic nature of a place seeps into the atmosphere and perception. This principal said NO – she refuses to let the expectation be the reality.

That concious decision of one lady in power had ripple effects. That viral photograph has lead to millions of dollars in donations are support funds to go to Harvard trips, school programmes, and even a college scholarship fund. Providing that no only do people care and act – but that current circumstances do not dictate our futures. Placemaking is important because it is not just about asking ‘What needs our current need?’, or ‘How simply can we achieve this?’, it is about asking ‘How does this effect the status quo?’, and ‘Will this benefit the inhabitants and context now, and in the next 20, or 100 years?’.

The connection that politics, policies and agendas, have with people and holistic living needs to be improved. So that addressing one problem, such as housing, doesn’t have a knock on effect, such as losing good land (or even enough land) for food growing. There are real and pressing considerations about how we live, and what we need to sustain us, which are beyond the black and white provision of bricks and mortar. I know I wont be the only one thinking along these lines, but it perhaps needs to be pushed and championed even more. So that the reliance is not on charities, and passionate people, but that it is ingrained at the initial point of policy making and politic stances.