Learning from the everyday

What can architects learn from informal communities and self-designed buildings? We can start by observing how the natural instincts of people take shape in the communities they build. For example: How much visual and acoustical privacy is necessary? How do people share space? How/where do they socialize? Where do they set up shops and businesses? Where do their children play? 

People rely on people, not only in slums, but also in cities. Why do people leave a rural life for a city? Why do millennials leave their family in Nebraska to pay $3000 a month for a tiny New York studio? I think the reasons aren’t so different. The urban life, whether in New York or Rio, provides inhabitants with greater opportunities for social connection,  commerce and education than they could ever get in sparsely populated rural communities. 

While the needs of people may change as their economic situations improve, we still desire a sense community and closeness to one another. As architects we have the power to develop to design with this in mind whether we are working on an office building or a city’s master plan.

A favela in Rio de Janeiro

Lower Manhattan- now home to the Financial District and exclusive condos, once home to slums