The Push for More and Building in Haiti
"Comfort is the new Justice."
- Rem Koolhaas
We live in a world that pushes more, more, more. There is a constant push to build more, to do more, to buy more. Comfort is king. Air conditioning dictates inhabitable space. "Real life is inside, while cyberspace has become the great outdoors...." With this in mind, it is easy to believe that the Junkspace we create is the solution to the world's problems.
Do the poor in Haiti need three bedroom, two bath homes with air conditioning, an electric stove, and refrigerator? Or is this just junkspace? Is more necessarily better? We can and should argue that better water, better waste management, and a stronger health and hygiene system is greatly in need in Haiti. However, we must critically look at what we build to fill space and why. Comfort does not equate wealth of relationships and quality of true life. From an American mindset it is easy to quickly impose a view of poverty onto other people that they might not have for themselves. Thinking beyond just building for building's sake to make things look shiny and bright is critically important.
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| Bas Cange by Joy Bruce |
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| Haiti from the Daily Beast |
I completely agree with your argument. As architects, we are problem solvers, and part of the reason that we are taught so many different topics (history, sociology, physics, etc.) is so that we can understand when a solution may not require a building at all. The example of crowded school hallways comes to mind. A school requested for an addition or renovation to help improve the congestion of students in the hallways between classes, but instead of building, the problem was simply solved by changing the bell system to allow for students to enter the hallways at different times. We should not feel defeated when those types of situations arise...it is only a different use of our well-rounded educations.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I agree that our standards of living do not necessarily translate well to those who might be in Haiti. What we may consider necessary or in good taste, may impose a sort of foreign entity that screams to them about how their 'quality of life' may be less than ours. Great way to relate to our studio.
ReplyDeleteAs Americans, we do compare many things to what we have. This is mainly because this is what we know. Our project in Haiti has opened my eyes to understanding what is to live with a need or a want. In many circumstances, we think of Haiti as a poor country but do the people there really consider themselves poor. The quality of life in Haiti probably is sufficient for their needs and brings them happiness for what they have. The culture there, in my view, takes advantage of what we would call 'Junkspace'. The in betweens that we often overlook are the most prominent spaces for that culture and how they use those spaces are what makes the people there happy.
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