Social Housing in Brasil (Podium renders)
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This is rarely good series of movies about architecture.
And this is the one about Jean Nouvel social housing mentioned before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agdt4go7EUY&feature=related
And it is beautiful in a broader sense. -
Thanks
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Tom
Mate I live in an apartment (flat) actually by choice! I love it, I feel secure, more part of a community, have access to shared facilities and no maintenance hassles. So yes some do it out of choice!
I visited singapore recently where somewhat similar style of social housing are common, the lower floor as in the case of Edson's design is most often utilised as hawker centres - small market style eating halls that actually encourage a healthy level of social activity. They are vibrant areas and have become integral to their way of living and for me something I almost wish for here!
My issue with this style of design isn't so much this ground level space but the missed opportunity to effect the loss of security above ground. The balcony / access that runs the perimeter meaning people pass one's door / windows where opportunity to become a criminal is almost encouraged. Not all criminal behaviour comes out of necessity, it just as often comes out of opportunity.
I understand it could be that is is just simply an accepted norn, I just question if this something that could be improved.
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@richard said:
Mate I live in an apartment (flat) actually by choice! I love it, I feel secure, more part of a community, have access to shared facilities and no maintenance hassles. So yes some do it out of choice!
I think if you are young and single perhaps a flat is okay, but for families with several people all living under one roof, it can be tough? In Britain there is a tendency to house those from difficult or poorer backgrounds in flats, and it hasn't worked.
I live in a small 2 up 2 down, the follow on from the Back to Back house. It would be a 3 bedroom if the bathroom was downstairs, but because it is not, it's a pokey little 2 bed, sitting behind Birmingham's "curry belt", and full of rats and cockroaches. We really wish we had a garden- it has a 'yard' which is just big enough to house a couple of rubbish bins. Ideally I'd love the whole of this area to be bulldozed (that's a pretty radical statement!), and somebody like Richard Rogers (or all the young architects currently leaving university and moving abroad) to come in and completely redesign this part of the city, but it ain't gonna happen- as they say. Victorian architecture was beautiful once, but most of it has had its day, and it looks tired now.
I wish Edson the best of luck, and I hope his project turns out well after all.
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Perhaps it would enliven the discussion if people were to post links to what they consider to be 'fit for purpose' social housing, perhaps with the ecology and energy conservation in mind.
Many of the enlightened initiatives seem to be coming from Housing Trusts, and many of the disasters from local authority council housing developments. We have such a disaster in Oxford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_Leys).
This seems a good example of what can be achieved:
http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/EcoHousingUK.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BedZED
Regards,
Bob -
edson, i like the work.
regarding this:
@tfdesign said:
I'm a big fan of Richard Rogers' social housing designs. These are a nice example;
is there a social context to which those shapes / colors / proportions / windows / facades fit into?
will those materials age gracefully? are they easy to maintain? will that curtain wall age gracefully and keep water out? when a panel fails - will common, easy to find materials be available to make repairs?
is it a norm to not have 'defensible space' in the fronts of houses like this?
are the interiors as sterile as the exteriors? will inhabitants be living in some sort of IKEA box?
are people comfortable in the front - or do they hang out in the back yard (if there is one behind that fence)?
will there be more trees?
is this on a street with auto traffic, or pedestrian traffic?
is the plaza or street sterile? (looking pretty sterile in its current form).
can owners personalize the units?
why not integrate lighting into the units? or do the social aspects of this area include living with parking lot style lights above one's head?just some questions. those aren't very warm or inviting. i can see a graffiti'd version of these with broken windows, broken down cars, and broken windows not far into the future.
if the owner's don't have a stake, or a say, in how their environment looks / feels / is used / etc... its likely that they will have little respect for their surroundings. this was part of the problem of the housing issues from the 60s on in the states. herd people like cattle into housing that 'the experts' designed and programmed.
i'm much more interested in the approach of the rural studio, started by sam mockbee in georgia. i wish i had known about the program before i jumped into a hi-tech, theory based grad program staffed by marquee named architects in a big city...
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