3 Ways John Habraken Was Ahead of His Time

 Adaptive Reuse of Materials

Shipping container houses, reclaimed barn wood, recycled steel, gabion walls of rubble…. Recycling materials may seem like a new trend, but it’s nothing new. Over 60 years ago Habraken combatted the lack of affordable building materials by teaming up with Alfred Heineken to design the “WOBO” World Bottle. The beer bottle was rectangularly and modularly shaped to be used as glass blocks. Habraken was a trailblazer in showing how industrialized recycling and adaptive reuse of materials could help tackle larger issues. To put in perspective how cutting edge this was, curbside recycling and the modern environmental movement wouldn’t even launch for another decade. 

 

Participation Movement

Buildings for the people, by the people….. Habraken recognized that building design is a complex process with multiple participants including the users even if they are not the clients. He broke down the urban grid into distinct levels of intervention in the built environment based on scale and participation.  From his analysis, he sought to bridge the disconnect between the architect and the everyday people by increasing their participation in the design of the buildings they inhabit; mainly through mass housing. Like a mosaic, Habraken could create a framework and base that would allow the user the opportunity to exhibit their freedom of choice and individual flair. 

Open Building 

Resiliency, Durability, Infrastructure, Adaptability, Evolving Design….These currently hot buzzwords were the driving force behind Habraken’s Open Building concept. Habraken understood that everyday life is always changing and thus shifting our demands on our personal spaces. He believed that the built environment  is the product of an ongoing, never ending, design process in which environment transforms part by part, not by tearing down a building and starting over. His solution was to create an infrastructure of building supports that would be permanent parts of the public domain while the infill would be malleable and under control of the individual.