HUMAN NEEDS & ARCHITECTURE A study of human needs & well-being to explore the potential of humanitarian development in architecture
Wing Kei So BA Architecture, Newcastle University School of Architecture Stage 3 2016-17
HUMAN NEEDS & ARCHITECTURE A study of human needs & well-being to explore the potential of humanitarian development in architecture
Wing Kei So BA Architecture, Newcastle University
Human needs & Architecture A study of human needs and well-being to explore the potential of humanitarian development in architecture A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of BA in Architecture, 2016/17.
Student name Student no. Module code Stage Year Word count
Coco Wing Kei So 140007121 ARC3060 3 2016/17 7890
Date printed: 25 Jan 2017 Wing Kei So @ 2017 All rights reserved
PREFACE When I see a luxurious building with excessive ornaments, I have always been thinking the luxury has added overwhelming quality to the true nature of architecture and stripped away its meanings and purpose. Meanwhile, these architectures also reflect the human desire has gone beyond the basic needs. This is where luxury comes in and becomes a tool for people to show off their status and power. From my point of view, it is pessimistic to see that more and more architecture are heading to the trend of overluxury because architects are trying to fulfill client’s wants but not what they really need. I think wealth and status have created a blurred line between human wants and needs that some people may think part of their wants is their needs. Therefore, disaster relief design might be a good starting point to look at the true nature of architecture that has taken away the luxurious quality and to see the true human needs when there is no different between the rich and the poor. Inspired by Shigeru Ban’s disaster relief projects, I saw many unique qualities in his projects which capture the true nature of architecture and tries to fulfill human desire in a non-luxurious way. By seeing how he used sustainable materials in shelters and how he designed to improve people’s quality of life, I think he was defined his own hierarchy of human needs towards architecture. The ultimate level of human needs is to live comfortably and sustainably. This suggests that human can also pursue a higher level of needs in architecture without excessive materialistic fulfillment. Architecture should strive for the true human needs but not the unnecessity of human wants and I think this is what the nature of architecture should be and what architecture should strive for.
PREFACE
CONTENTS 01 05
LIST OF ILLUSTRATION ACKNOWLEDGMENT
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INTRODUCTION
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DEVELOP FOR DESIRES OR NEEDS?
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The rise of development approaches for humanity Human needs and development Moving forward
RESTART THE HUMANITY
FROM THE ANGLE OF DISASTER RELIEF Definition The rise of humanitarian needs Humanitarian disaster relief by Shigeru Ban
THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT THE POTENTIAL OF ARCHITECT
Human scale development approach Human resource development approach Integrated rural development approach
CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATION Cover page Millstein, E. (2010) Publications: Ezra Millstein photography. [image] Available at: http://www.ezramillstein.com/publications/ (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Table 1 McGregor, S. (2010). Max-Neef’s Basic Human Needs satisfier Matrix. [image] Available at: http://www.consultmcgregor.com/documents/publications/ well-being_wellness_and_basic_human_needs_in_home_economics.pdf (Accessed: 26 January 2017).
Diagram 1 Diagram of evaluation of phase 1 by Author Diagram 2 Diagram of evaluation of phase 2 by Author
Figure 1 Maslow’s theory by author Figure 2 Maslow’s theory by author Figure 3 to 8 Ban, S. (2011) Paper partition system 4. [image] Available at: http://www. shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2011_paper-partition-system-4/index.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 6 to 20 Hirai, H. (2011) SBA_CONTAINER TEMPORARY HOUSING. [image] Available at: http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2011_onagawa-containertemporary-housing/index.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 21& 22 Hirai, H. (2011) SBA_ONAGAWA COMMUNITY CENTER. [image] Available at: http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2011_onagawa-communitycenter/index.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 23 & 24 Hirai, H. (2011c) SBA_ONAGAWA PAPER ATELIER. [image] Available at: http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2011_onagawa-paper-atelier/ index.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). LIST OF ILLUSTRATION
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Figure 25 & 26 McKnight, T. (2015) How to build with bamboo: 19 projects you can do at home. [image] Available at: http://www.goodshomedesign.com/how-tobuild-with-bamboo-19-projects-you-can-do-at-home/ (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 27 Jett, M. (2011) Gallery of Sneek bridge / Achterbosch Architectuur with Onix - 2. [image] Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/184653/sneek-bridgeachterbosch-architectuur-with-onix/sneek-bridge_2 (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 28 Eastman (2011) Eastman’s Acetylation process. [image] Available at: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pD__UfuIDc (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 29 Glulam (2014) What is glulam - Glulam. [image] Available at: http:// glulambeams.co.uk/about-glulam/what-is-glulam (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 30 Online2017AEC (2004) Construct differently with the European leader in glued laminated timber. [image] Available at: http://www.aeconline.ae/constructdifferently-with-the-european-leader-in-glued-laminated-timber-33008/news. html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 31 & 32 Reicher t, S. (2013) STEFFEN REICHERT. [image] Available at: http:// steffenreichert.com/04_surface.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 33 & 36 Ferguson, K. and Candy, S. (2014) PARTICIPATORY DESIGN HANDBOOK. [image] Available at: http://kateferguson.org/documents/Participatory-DesignHandbook.pdf (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 37 Andrea, L. (2012) Banana fibre. [image] Available at: http://www.ilpiccolodpiu. it/il_piccolo/tag/seta-di-banano (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 38 Leigh, J.D. (2014) Frabjous fibers archives - Raspberries Dunedin and RStudio. [image] Available at: http://www.raspberriesdunedin.com/brand/ frabjous-fibers/ (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Figure 39 Coconut Fibre (1998) [image] Available at: http://www.exportersindia.com/ vivek_trading/coconut-fibre-jamshedpur-india-156294.htm (Accessed: 26 January 2017). 2
LIST OF ILLUSTRATION
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Foremost, I would like to express my appreciation to my dissertation tutor Dr. Katie Lloyd Thomas for her patience and guidance. Without her advice and support throughout the process, I would not be able to finish this dissertation. I would also want to show my special thanks to my flatmates/coursemates Quynh and Pan for inspiring me with new ideas and encouraging me since the beginning as well as proofreading my writing at the end. My thanks also goes to Leslie, Otto, Victoria and Hope for discussing my topic and ideas and giving me different point of view every time. Last but not the least, I would like to show my greatest gratitude to my family who have been supporting me as always even we have 8 hours time difference and 5889 miles away.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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INTRODUCTION With the rapid growth of society, the desire of architecture is no longer merely a shelter for a living, but it is more like a show-off of status with power and privilege. We start to see that the design of architecture gradually serves for materialism but not humanity. This relates to the growth of the economy which expands people’s range of choice and leads to an illusion of ‘wellbeing’, suggested by E.J. Mishan1, the professor of Economics, who is fond of exploring the connection of human desire regarding human consuming behaviours and economic growth. He explains the benefits that the economic growth brought to us have deluded our pursuits into a materialistic side. This continual monetary desire may lead to a deterioration of the living quality due to the pollutions and damages that we have contributed to the environment in order to fulfil our excessive wants. Having a similar view of human consuming patterns in relation to economic growth, Misra opines that the current economic world order had created a core-periphery structure that rich countries have been continuously making benefit out of the poor countries owing to their less economic competitiveness. This forms a situation which the poor countries need to keep playing the resource-supplier role in order to get the most benefits under this economic framework. As human wants to grow with the rate of economy, this leads to a discrepancy in the value of needs and wants between the developed and developing countries. This results in inequity of resource distribution among different countries2. The definition of human needs and relationship of human desire and well-being under this socio-economic framework will be further discussed in the later chapter. 1 Mishan, E. (1977). The economic growth debate. 1st ed. London: G. Allen & Unwin, pp.96-97, 115-120. 2 Misra, R. (1990). Humanising development: Promises, Problems and Prospects. In: K. Gangrade and R. Misra, ed., Conflict Resolution Through on-violence, 1st ed. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, pp.85-104.
An emerging of a humanised development model was then introduced by Misra, however, he does not intend to propose a complete new development model for the today’s world but to raise a discussion of a path for development which is closer to the humanity. In his chapter of a book, Humanising development: Promises, Problems and Prospects, he summarised that the only premise for this development model is the equity of distribution in resources. In order to re-create the similar circumstances, the cases of redevelopment after disaster are a favourable choice, considering the least external factors affecting the process of fulfilling the human needs. The cases with the most humanitarian quality reflect how a community can be developed under a humanitarian approach. Shigeru Ban, a proficient architect in the field of disaster situation, who has made profound contribution to the disaster relief project for the Earthquake in Japan in 2011. To get a thorough understanding of how human needs can be satisfied, this project will be examined in what degree of the human needs has been fulfilled and what makes this project stands out from the others. An analysis of Ban’s strategy corresponding to the architectural fulfilment of human needs will be further elaborated in detail later. This will need to revisit INTRODUCTION
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the theories of human needs and will evaluate the impacts of humanised development approach from this project. Therefore, this disser tation wants to bring this discussion from an architectural point of view. The structure of the dissertation will first divide into three chapters; the first chapter will explain the formation of arising materialistic pursuits in the modern world from a national viewpoint. Then it will clarify the term ‘well-being’ in relation to human needs, referring to Maslow’s theory of human needs and other similar theories. After recognising the true needs for human being, the second chapter will star t with the approach of humanised development and its pre-set requirement. In order to see how a community is developed in a humanised way, the humanitarian disaster relief by Shigeru Ban will be analysed to what extent it achieves the levels of human needs regarding its impacts. So as to expand the word ‘humanitarian’, the humanised development approach will be discussed in a wider context in the last chapter. Thus, humanitarian theories and self-reliance approaches in regard to development model for humanity will be analysed and evaluate. Hopefully, from understanding the development of a community from the disaster relief by Shigeru Ban and the additional self-sustaining approaches can extend the concept of ‘humanitarian’ to another level, in general. Therefore, I hope this humane-wise development thinking can give a breath of fresh air to this monetary society. It seems to be a new stream of approach but if we think deeply, we will realise everything are supposed to be humanitarian. This humanised concept gives an opportunity to reflect the true meaning of development and what we really need as a human being.
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INTRODUCTION
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DEVELOP FOR DESIRES OR NEEDS? 3 Misra, R. (1990). Humanising development: Promises, Problems and Prospects. In: K. Gangrade and R. Misra, ed., Conflict Resolution Through on-violence, 1st ed. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, pp.85. 4 Mishan, E. (1977). The economic growth debate. 1st ed. London: G. Allen & Unwin, pp.29. 5 See note 3. 6 Max-Neef, M., Elizalde, A. and Hopenhayn, M. (1991). Human scale development. 1st ed. New York: The Apex Press, pp.2-3.; 7 En.wiktionar y. org. (2017). maldevelopment Wiktionary. [online] Available at: https:// e n . w i k t i o n a r y. o r g / wiki/maldevelopment [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017]. 8 See note 3 p.86-87.
While the developing countries have faltered on the economic front, the development countries have not done well on the social and environmental fronts. There is growing disillusionment due to the over indulgence in materialistic pursuits leading to environmental deterioration and social disruption.3 -by R.P. Misra, The scholar of development studies, planning and economics Regarding the continued economic growth, many economists started to question whether the pursuits of economic can actually improve the quality of life or, conversely, it acts to aggravate the humanity condition. Mishan pointed out that the growth of economic does expand the range of choices, however, it does not mean that the quality of life is improved. He explained that, in developed countries, people are generally living at a standard far beyond the survival level, therefore, a fulfilment of individual’s higher needs rely less on merely his income but more on his relative income comparing to the general society. In addition to Mishan’s point of view, Misra5 agreed that the consequences of over economic development are getting more serious than before, for instance, resulting the environmental pollution and the over-extraction of non-renewable resources. This leads to not only resources deficiency but unbalanced distribution of resources. Moreover, the development of developed countries have no doubt to accelerate the production of their economic growth. From a global economical perspective, the Third World countries are staying at a disadvantage position as they hold very less leverage regarding political and economic strengths. They can only play a lower position to fit in the structures in order to make the most profit out of this economic framework, explained by Mandrel Max-Neef, a Chilean economist who has worked for many years with the problem of development in the Third World.6 Nevertheless, this situation of continued economic growth has been slowed down recently as the economic inflation and the increase of unemployment are ubiquitous not only in the Third World but also in the leading countries, like EU and USA. Some developed countries realised that the current social structure is leading the world into mal-development. It means that development does not grow as the way we expected so it forms a disparity between the people’s needs from rich countries and from poor countries7. This discrepancy results in disproportionate distribution in resources and is maligned to both developed and developing countries in long term. Therefore, some developed countries considered to repress the growth rate and to advocate the environmental protection because they realised controlled growth of economy will not enhance their standard of livings but worsen.8
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Misra pointed out that some concerns were raised and they doubted on the practicality of cessation of growth. They were more convinced that the people need more monetary commodities in pursuit of higher status and power in the future. Moreover, they doubted whether human pursue happiness as the ultimate goal of life; otherwise, economic growth has been stagnated ages before. The continuous growth of economy hitherto proves the human desire.9 In view of this, more and more developed countries started to reflect on their own development model with regards to sustainability and effectiveness. Then, this led to many economists to reconsider what development actually means to humanity and to think another development approach which is closer to address the human needs in terms of well-being. They realised economic growth is not the only indicator for development whereas we should see development in more different dimensions than just economic aspects. The enhancement of human well-being and wellness can also be other aspects for development.
The rise of development approaches for humanity In order to alleviate the problem of mal-development, the first step is to narrow the differences between the needs for the rich and the poor countries, starting from raising the average living standard of the poor countries. This helps the developing and underdeveloped countries to be self-dependent so they can have more bargaining power at a national level. Misra10 then suggested that a self-suppor ting development should begin with the community. He contrived a concept of ‘community’ in relation to achieving self-sufficiency. A community, he defined, referred as a group of people who share similar value based on the same cultural and social backgrounds and make common decisions on important issues. The group of people within the same community usually live within a certain distance, not too apart. In-person communication is the basic human needs of people; therefore, changes in the modes of transportation and communication will not influence their identity as a community. An exception for a community being independent is when the community includes both rural and urban areas are all equally important. It then forms a dependent relationship with more developed regions and the rural areas within those communities. Apart from that, a community should continue to grow into a national scale. Misra11 expressed developed countries should begin the self-reliant movement in respect of their well-structured conditions in all aspects; regrettably, in the nowadays situation, people tend to get complacent from the outside of the community without considering their internal resources and this results in a breakdown of community.
9 Kahn, H. (1979). World economic development. 1st ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, pp.23-24.; Lewis, W. (1955). The theory of economic growth. 1st ed. London: Allen & Unwin, p.421. 10 Misra, R. (1990). Humanising development: Promises, Problems and Prospects. In: K. Gangrade and R. Misra, ed., Conflict Resolution Through on-violence, 1st ed. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, pp.105-106. 11 Ibid., p107.
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Therefore, in order for the development to migrate from the current system to new, two directions have to work on. The first direction is for developing and developed countries to improve on their living standard so as to meet the basic needs, as mentioned. The second direction is for developed countries to rethink or suggest a sustainable lifestyle based on the advanced sustainable resources. There are various different approaches addressing the problems as listed above. Denis Goulet then summarized the main concepts of this approach with three main objectives. They are: 1. to provide more and better life-sustaining goods to members of societies; 2. to create or improve social conditions of life in some way related to a perceived need for esteem; and 3. to free human communities from servitude (to nature, to ignorance, to man or other communities, to institutions, to beliefs, to techniques of development, etc) considered oppressive so as to release them for positive selfactualisation.12 12 Misra, R. (1990). Humanising development: Promises, Problems and Prospects. In: K. Gangrade and R. Misra, ed., Conflict Resolution Through on-violence, 1st ed. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, p.102. 1 3 M a s l o w, A . (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), pp.370-396. 14 Max-Neef, M., Elizalde, A. and Hopenhayn, M. (1991). Human scale development. 1st ed. New York: The Apex Press. pp. 5-8
This approach focuses on humanised development with a long-term vision and endeavours to fulfil the human needs at many aspects. This type of approach resolve the problems and concerns as mentioned as it supports economic growth and other development while focusing less determined not only on human desire but more on determination of the environment. Before proceeding to justify that this approach is indispensable to humanity, the purpose of development in terms of human needs has to be discussed first.
Human needs and development In order to understand what constitutes human needs, this section first introduces human needs from two main theories; one is from Maslow and the other is from Max-Neef. Then, a few more supportive theories and approaches, based on Maslow or Max-Neef’s theories, explain further more in detail in respect of human development as a whole. Despite of the similar definition of human needs, the assumption of Maslow and Max-Neef’s theories are diversely different. Maslow’s theory of human needs premises that the basic level must be achieved before getting onto a higher level of needs13. Conversely, Max-Neef’s theory14 is based on the human needs that are all equal yet interdependent and interconnected at all levels. This interrelationship accomplishes the process of fulfilling needs.
Maslow’s theory of basic human needs Maslow first introduced his concept of basic human needs in 1943, titled “A theory of human motivation”. He divided human needs into five levels with priority which is usually interpreted as a pyramid. The human needs starts DEVELOP FOR DESIRES OR NEEDS?
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with physiological, safety and security, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualisation (see Figure 1). Physiological needs This is the basic survival need which refers as water, food, clothing and shelter. This also refers to one’s health whether they are in good condition to activate the next level. Safety & Security With the physical needs is satisfied, people start to consider their safety and security of their living environment. Therefore, they need a certain degree of environmental control in terms of private space. Belongingness & Love This level of human needs refers to emotional needs relating to people and places such as sense of belongings, friendships, family love etc. Esteem This is a need of being respected and recognised by the others in order to feel accepted and valued in the social life. If this need is not fulfilled, it will result in a sense of inferiority leading to low self-esteem. Self-actualisation This is a high level of needs that people want to make their best to complete him spiritually. He later added another level on top of Self-actualisation as Selftranscendence. It is the level that human surpasses their limits for spiritual contemplation so as to complete themselve. Maslow & Lowery finalised the concept with adding two more levels - cognitive and aesthetic needs which are below self-actualisation in 1998 (see Figure 2). Cognitive needs, 14
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Figure 1. Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs (1943) (left)
Figure 2. Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs (with new levels) in 1998 (right)
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he defined, is the pursuits of knowledge to improve their intelligence; whereas aesthetic needs is the need for beautiful pleasing so as to achieve selfactualisation a step closer.15 He premised that only when the lower levels of needs are fulfilled, people then are about the higher levels. In other words, if the lower order needs (i.e. the lower four levels) were taken away, people would shift their focus to the reattainment of the lower needs from the higher order needs (i.e. the top four levels). He then considered the lower four order needs as deprivation needs; and the top four order needs as self-actualisation needs. This means that a low satisfaction of deprivation needs results a deficiency and which drives people to seek these needs respectively. On the contrary, the self-actualisation need refers to the pursuit of self-development to self-completion.
Table 1 (Right) Max-Neef’s Basic Human Needs satisfier Matrix
Maslow concluded that these two concepts of deprivation & self-actualisation needs are not completely diversified but they are interdependent and connected; nevertheless, when all basic needs are met and satisfied, the precondition for the higher needs can be influenced to the lower needs.
Max-Neef’s theory of basic human needs
Max-Neef16 developed this theory based on Maslow’s theory in 1991 and suggested a Matrix of Needs and Satisfiers to measure the satisfaction of human needs according to four aspects of satisfier - being (qualities), having (things), doing (actions) and interacting (settings). The four satisfiers can be applied on anyone even with different cultural backgrounds. He then comprised basic human needs into 9 categories; • Subsistence • Protection • Affection • Understanding • Participation • Idleness • Creation • Identity • Freedom Max-Neef claimed that this matrix has a purpose for identifying, understanding and evaluating a specific situation to what extend the conditions have met and satisfied the basic human needs. Therefore, it enables people to analyse their problems so as to propose new strategies or approaches to enhance the situation critically. If there are any needs that are not fulfilled, that means there will be a compromise of living condition as a result to poverty17. In order to understand how to read the table, for instance, Cell 16 refers to the need of “Interacting of Understanding”. Those words in Cell 16 suggest various social settings (e.g. provision of schools and other institutional facilities) that can achieve the need of understanding. Likewise, Cell 10 indicates as the need of “Having of affection”. So as to achieve this need, people should have the suggested relationships as listed in Cell 10. With the use of this Matrix table, the situation of an individual or a group can be assessed and evaluated in what degree human needs are satisfied as well as to identify the room for improvement in the future. Max-Neef finalised that all needs are equally important while they are interrelated and influential to each other. 16
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1 5 M a s l o w, A . ( 1 9 9 8 ) . To w a r d a psychology of being. 1st ed. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. 16 Max-Neef, M., Elizalde, A. and Hopenhayn, M. (1991). Human scale development. 1st ed. New York: The Apex Press, pp.29-39. 17 ibid, pp.37-41.
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Other refinement of approaches to human needs and well-being The term ‘well-being’ has mentioned a few times in the beginning of this dissertation. It has a close connection with human needs as well as development. McGregor18 has published an article regarding human needs and well-being in a relation to economics. In one of the section of the chapter, she summarised the concepts of well-being from different theories and approaches. McGregor made reference to King’s approaches19 on the concept of wellbeing which consists of two layers. The first layer refers as income consumption based approach which focuses on the utilization of resources that people have already had. The second layer represents as desiresbased approach which considers self-evaluation of individual pleasure and fulfilment. The desire-based approach can be further elaborated into two perspectives, suggested by Nieboer et al.20; one is the general concept of well-being from a subjective point of view; and the other is the individual point of view on their well-being influenced by different factors. Those factors are divided into external and internal aspects. The external aspects can be regarded as social and economic; the internal aspects are biological, mental and self-autonomy. Both aspects explore in what degree human needs are fulfilled and the expectation of their prospects. Besides, King suggested the concept of well-being can be expanded to collective well-being which covers community that have similar background or interest. He proposed that “family relationships and networks, neighbourhood and community networks, housing tenure, available government resources and policies, transportation infrastructures, labour market interaction, and people’s power and agency” are the factors of collective well-being. He believes that collective well-being can urge to achieve equity within the community as more people are willing to fight for those who are below the average levels of well-being.
Moving forward The overall concept of well-being is first based on the satisfaction of basic human needs and then the higher levels of satisfaction according to the social and economic conditions. This has the similar idea with the humanised development approach that aims to achieve well-being by achieving human needs. All of the mentioned approach and theory explained the current situation in terms of the core of human needs from social and economic perspective. Meanwhile, this dissertation also wants to bring this discussion from an architectural point of view. Therefore, in the next chapter, humanised development approach is viewed from humanitarian disaster relief to see how a community can be redeveloped in a human-oriented strategy and turn into a self-reliant community. 18
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18 McGregor, S. (2010). Well-being, Wellness and Basic Human Needs in Home Economics. 1st ed. [ebook] pp.15-16, 21-27. 19 King, P. (2007, March). The concept of well-being and its application in a study of aging in Aotearoa New Zealand [EWAS Working Paper Series No. 8]. Lower Hutt, NZ: Family Center. 2 0 N e i b o e r, A . , Lindenberg, S., Boomsma, A., & Va n B r u g g e n , A . (2005). Dimensions of wellbeing and their measurement. Social Indicator Research, 73(3), 313-353.
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This chapter will focus on the recreating the conditions for humanised development approach by looking at the humanitarian disaster relief by Shigeru Ban. By understanding the humanitarian disaster relief, we can see how a community can be redeveloped in a humanised way since: (1) the socio-economic structure has been destructed by the disaster; and (2) all the resources have been re-distributed equally according to the needs.
Definition Humanitarian architecture explores the scope of humanity from individuals to the living environment. There are various definitions of “Humanitarian” and the closest definition of the term is that “Humanitarian design” treats humanity as the basis of design, which emphasizes the right to live with dignity.21 This comes from a handbook published by the Sphere Project, which is an international non-government organisation considering the quality of humanitarian action in a disastrous situation. This explains “Humanitarian” concerns not just on physical but also psychological needs. Thus, in what situation would be the best to show the true human needs? Those vulnerable areas where have been destroyed by disaster or war would imperatively seek the humanitarian aids to mitigate the suffering of pain of the victims. In this situation, people can see clearly what their real needs are when there is no different between the rich and the poor whilst understanding the core of human needs. In other words, humanitarian architecture accentuates the well-being of disaster victims and assists the recovery of both affected victims and the communities in order to aid the social resilience.
The rise of humanitarian needs
21 Humanitarian c h a r t e r a n d minimum standards in humanitarian response. (2011). 3rd ed. Hampshire: The Sphere Project, p.4
Since the existence of human, natural catastrophes and human wars have destroyed numerous people’s lives. There was no such word as ‘Humanitarian Aid’ in the past because living standards of people at that time were very poor that they were only surviving but not living. Therefore, whichever disaster happened, the standard of disaster responses merely stayed at the survival stage but not further to the next stage – Living. While the public educational levels and development of technologies are growing in the past century, people have more experience to react to disaster events and start to realise how important a good management of disaster relief is. It can actually save more lives from those devastating disasters and construct a better living environment to those victims, but more importantly it enhances the better precaution and alertness of recurring of the mishaps to the area in the future.
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Humanitarian disaster relief by Shigeru Ban A successful humanitarian disaster relief is not only to meet the basic levels of human needs but also to achieve a higher order of human needs at a wider scope. Shigeru Ban’s work has shown his capability to achieve the higher order needs strategically while satisfying the basic needs gradually. Here is an example which has shown the process of satisfying human needs from the basic to the higher levels of needs, achieving well-being of the community after all. This chapter first introduces the series of disaster relief in the Earthquake in Japan in 2011; then identifies its satisfaction of human needs based on the theories mentioned previously. The approach of the disaster relief to fulfil human needs is then analysed and evaluated in an architectural perspective. The whole Earthquake relief is divided into two phases as below.
Phase one: Settlement In the event of great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in Miyako, Japan in 2011, refugees had to stay in the public building for several months before temporary shelters were built. People were under inadequate living standard with low privacy in an overpopulated space. Shigeru Ban had then applied the paper-tube material, which has developed in his early career since 1989, as the frame of partition walls with canvas curtains to divide spaces for each family22. The paper partition had been set up for more than 1800 units, which is 4 sqm per unit, in over 50 public buildings with temporary evacuation purpose. This enhanced the privacy for the individuals living under a shared place (see Figure 8). In the first phase of the relief, although the condition of disaster situation was deficient that most of the basic needs were swept off by the disaster, Shigeru Ban was rebuilding the fundamental human needs at the settlement stage that the people were at least safe under the protection of the public building. The partition wall provided privacy equally to everyone. Besides, the use of recyclable material showed a sustainable vision from the start of the project. According to the Maslow’s theory of human needs, the settlement phase only achieved the two basic levels of human needs in terms of the provisions of shelters and privacy (see Figure 1). However, the quality of each needs can be improved a lot better.
22 “Paper Par tition System 4 | Shgieru Ban Architects”. Shigerubanarchitects. com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Nov. 2016 22
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Figure 3 to 5 (Top to bottom) This is the paper tube material for the frame of partition wall. The simple structure of the frame greatly enhances the efficiency of constructing the partition walls within a short period of time.
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Figure 6 & 7 (Top and middle) This is a demonstration of a divided unit with curtain opens and closes.
RESTART THE HUMANITY
Figure 8 The quick setup of partition walls immediately provide privacy to people who live in a communal space in a public building for temporary settlement. 24
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Satisfaction of human needs (Phase 1) Order from top to bottom: - Privacy & Security - Provision of shelters
Sustainable vision: - Paper tube for structural construction
Diagram 1 The diagram shows how the basic needs are met at the settlement phase, referenced Maslow’s theory. In the choices of material, it shows the sustainable vision development, incorporating to humanised approach. RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE ONE
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Phase two: Container Temporary Housing After the settlement, Shigeru continued to work on the temporary housing where had limited land in the town of Onagawa. Owing to the deficiency of flatlands of the affected site and it was unsafe to build temporary shelters upon the hillside, he then proposed a temporary three-storey shippingcontainer dwellings for people to move from a sharing space in public buildings to an individual temporary shelter23. The units of the dwelling were made out of shipping container where can be found easily around the site so as to speed up the construction process without spending too much time in searching for construction material and fabrication of the structures. Moreover, the draught-board arrangement provided open spaces between each unit and allowed more natural light entering the living space. In order to improve the living standard of dwellers, he designed the fixed furniture like closet and shelves for storage purposes with the aid of local volunteers and the financial support collecting from the donation. This allowed future development for becoming a permanent home. More importantly, it was also designed to resist earthquake so as to enhance the safety of the dwelling. This kind of upgrade of temporary housing was lifting up the victim’s’ standard of living after disastrous event than before and was taking a big leap of progress on exploring the possibility of sheltering enhancement. 26
RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE TWO
23 “SBA_CONTAINER T E M P O R A R Y H O U S I N G ” . Shigerubanarchitects. com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.
Figure 9 (Top) Overall view of the temporary shipping containers dwelling in Onagawa Figure 10 (Right) Diagrams showing the container unit and arrangement on site RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE TWO
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Figure 11 Expotantial diagram showing 28
RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE TWO
Figure 12 Different layouts of apartment in the dwelling to cater different sizes of family RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE TWO
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Figure 13 & 14 (Top & middle) Volunteers helped to install fixed furniture in each unit
Figure 15 & 16 (Left & right) The interior with all fixed furniture. The style is simple but makes people feel comfortable and cosy. 30
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Figure 17 & 18 (Top & bottom) The communal space is wide open to everyone; therefore, a large tent is used for creating communal space. The market provides people opportunity to start up their small business as well as to get access of basic necessities. But Ban did not satisfy by just improving the standard of living of individuals, he even made efforts on improving the community as a whole that he created a big tent for communal spaces such as market and café at the centre of the dwelling (see Figure 10). Dwellers could the get necessities of a market where they could even start up their small business. Spaces between the shipping containers had been transformed into storage and indoor communal centre. The indoor communal centre can hold up to 70 people at a time24. All the wooden materials were sourced from the local prefecture. Given a donation by a Japanese painter, Hiroshi Senju, an atelier was built at the site and created a public place for collective creativity25. The design of the atelier was well-thought about the lighting and spatial qualities within the space. This rehabilitated the people survived from the disaster not just physically but mentally. 32
RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE TWO
24 “SBA_ONAGAWA C O M M U N I T Y C E N T E R ” . Shigerubanarchitects. com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Nov. 2016. 25 “SBA_ONAGAWA PA P E R AT E L I E R ” . Shigerubanarchitects. com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.
Figure 19 & 20 (left to right) The tent provides space for children to play as well as a cafe shop for dwellers. RESTART THE HUMANITY - PHASE TWO
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Figure 21 & 22 (Top & bottom) Communal Centre where can have 70 seats at one time.
Figure 23 & 24 (Left and right) This is the atelier with exterior was made of corrugated polycarbonate sheets while high windows were opened to the north which allowed diffused sunlight to enter the space 34
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Satisfaction of human needs (Phase 2) Order from top to bottom: - Participatary - Leisure & Recreation - Communal spaces - Privacy & Security - Provision of shelters
Sustainable vision: - Shipping container - Locally sourced material
Diagram 2 This phase satisfied three more levels of human needs by providing certain environmental conditions. Meanwhile, the way Shigeru Ban collect and use the material is sustainable and efficient as he explores the main material internally. This would be the first step to self-reliance.
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In view of the design of container dwellings, it facilities people to achieve a higher order of human needs by designing the environmental settings. First, the quality of the first two basic needs is improved comparing to the quality of basic needs from the settlement phase. In addition, the dwelling provides communal spaces for people to improve their relationship among dwellers, fostering the sense of belongings as a community. On top of this, the design also fulfils the need of leisure and recreation by providing the semi-outdoor communal space as well as the indoor communal centre. This level of need substituted the original level of “Esteem Need”. This is to explore the human needs in terms of architecture, and fulfilling the spiritual needs from architecture is actually very limited. Therefore, from an architectural aspect, it can only provide the conditions of space for people to seek for higher emotional needs. Moreover, this dwelling provides an atelier for boosting the local vitality and local participatory. This reached “cognitive and aesthetic needs” through par ticipation of the local activities with creativity and creations. The disaster relief designed by Shigeru Ban exhibits the great capability to achieve a higher human needs in enhancing the standard of living from the beginning disaster situation. In term of design and architecture, his way of using material has long-term vision that it fits with the concept of self-reliance leading to humanised development approach. Although this disaster relief redeveloped the community with a focus of fulfilling the human needs, it has to admit that just by looking at the architectural aspect is not holistic enough to fulfil all the human needs. By all means the architect can fulfil the basic needs rather than the needs at a higher level. It is obvious the work of the Architect will only satisfy the human basic needs leaving the higher hierarchy of needs to be pursued by individual users at their own aspiration. Human needs should be satisfied by different perspectives, such as political, economic and social aspects. Nevertheless, we should endeavour to seek for the possibility of surpassing beyond the limit at the architectural aspect. Despite the fact that other dimensions in the higher levels of spiritual needs are yet to explore by this example, and our perception of ‘humanitarian’ are still retained at the restricted level of human needs. The next chapter will bring the self-reliance approach into a larger scale. Hopefully, it explores the term ‘humanitarian’ at the wider context.
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38
THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT THE POTENTIAL OF ARCHITECT
As mentioned in the first chapter, the monetary focus of today’s development is leading to a crisis of social inequality as well as ecological disorder. A humanised approach is then raised to tackle these problems as it proposes a shifted focus from materialism to humanity. In order to shape a sustainable and self-sufficient society, this humanised approach needed to be embedded in the strategy planning and design. Before acquiring this development model, bridging the perception gap of ‘human needs’ between the rich and the poor is the first step to actualise the condition for the humanised development approach. To achieve this, dependent relationships between countries need to be inverted (i.e. the economic world order). In other words, rich countries should look for their resources internally while poor countries should have the ability to sustain independently. The feasibility of achieving this condition can be explored by looking at the disaster relief of which would provide an insight of how the community can be re-built in a self-supporting way. From the disaster relief by Shigeru Ban, we can visualize the humanity being developed in which it mainly focuses on human needs, leading to improvement not merely the basic standard of living but also the quality of life. Although Shigeru Ban did touch on the satisfaction of human well-being through his humanitarian design, the extent to which the quality of higher needs is yet to be fulfilled. Thus, in this chapter a broader exploration of how humanitarian architecture can integrate with the humanised development is going to be explored.
26 Adelman, I. (1975). Growth, income distribution and equity-oriented development strategies. World Development, 3(2-3), pp.67-76. 27 Max-Neef, M., Elizalde, A. and Hopenhayn, M. (1991). Human scale development. 1st ed. New York: The Apex Press, pp.8-9.
This chapter will introduce three approaches in relation to humanised development which help humanitarian design to achieve the higher levels of human needs or even a new dimension of needs. Each approach focuses on different aspects. Max-Neef’s approach focuses on technology and sustainable lifestyle; Irma Adelman 26 emphasizes on the education of skills and human capital; and Albert Waterston concentrates on the rural development and rural quality of life. Each approach has a different focal point, albeit this chapter will discuss on how they can assist in expanding the boundary of basic architectural needs.
Human scale development approach The first approach is human scale development suggested by Max-Neef who believes that development should aim at satisfying the basic human needs as the top priority. This has to go along with the degree of self-reliance among the community and the balanced relationship between human, nature and technology from individual to local level. It has an ecological concept of how technology can make human’s quality of life more self-reliant and sustainable.27 Sharing the similar concept of this approach, an eco-friendly technology called Appropriate Technology can fully demonstrate the essence of this approach. THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
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The word ‘Appropriate Technology’ was first mentioned in a book “Small is Beautiful” which is written by a British economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher in 1970.28 He proposed a type of technology that should have ‘human face’ and be able to address human crisis at a local level. The word ‘Appropriate’ in here means a suitable use of technology that aim to solve problems for a particular local community and gradually develop their quality of life. It has another impor tant purpose which is to solve social issues through technology by creating more job oppor tunities for local people. This is originally developed by villagers who use simple skills and techniques on natural materials to improve their ways of living. By adopting this idea, it can be further elaborated into an architectural context. According to Tear tisup’s research paper about the use of appropriate technology in architecture29, the concept of appropriate technology consists of two major components. One is the technology of material production; the other one is the technology of building construction. They are variable to the site limitation, resources, labour’s level of skills, economy, culture and environment. These two components of appropriate technology have four different levels suggested by Teartisup, but I then modified the examples so as to fit into this context as below: 1. Low technology
2. Intermediate technology
3. High technology
28 Schumacher, E. (1989). Small is beautiful. 1st ed. New Yo r k , N . Y. : H a r p e r Perennial, pp.13-22. 29 Tear tisup, S. (2007). Appropriate construction technology for residence in Chao Phraya River Estuary: A case study of Sakla Village. Nakhara : Journal of Environmental Design and Planning, [online] 2(7), pp.97-100. 4. Future technology
Low material technology
Intermediate material technology High material technology
Future material technology
supplies and manufactures
extends the longevity of natural
aims to improve the quality of
building material using local raw material with local workers in a simple and inexpensive way Low contruction technology
material by using simple chemical treatment and machine or advanced tools Intermediate contruction
enhances the natural material
properties and its performance by natural material and explore its advanced technology
potentials with researches and new technology
High construction technology
Future construction technology
uses advanced machines to
uses more advanced machines or
up the material quality
while improving the quality of
technology uses simple tools such as knife and hammer that do not require any trainings or experiences
uses simple tools but the use of
equipment requires more skills and reduce human error so as to keep technology to fully replace labour knowledge in construction.
product Bamboo roof which used processed local bamboo by using soaking and sun-dried method and cut it into
Acetylated wood is a type of wood processed with
Glued laminated timber is a reinforced structural wood
acetic anhydride which is non-toxic product comprising layers of and ecological afterall. The
wood swelling in high humidity.
is a new way of seeing natural material to have sensitivity with
lumber with durable and moisture- climate. With the investigation with
half and construct them as a roof. reaction with acetic anhydride can proof properties enhance the moisture resistance of
Hygromorphic material
the wood properties, some types of wood contain hygromorphic substance which is highly moisturesensitive. A thin layer of that wood would change in shape when it met water. This material is still testing
on the adaptive usage of building for the future. 30
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THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Figure 25 & 26 Traditional Bamboo roof Example of low technology that is simple to construct with the use of local natural material.
Figure 27 Acetylated wood can be made into structual construction. This is a bridge designed by Onix in Netherlands in 2010.
Figure 28 Acetylated wood is moisture-resistance, thus, they do not swell easily. THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
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Figure 29 This shows the production process of glulam. It requires a more complex and advanced technology to produce.
Figure 30 This is the design of using glulam. The strength of glulan can take a long span to create large interior space
Figure 31 This is the normal state of hygromorphic wood. It is sensitive with water and this is a prototype for new building facade
Figure 32 After the skin of the wood reacts with water, it will swell in a specific direction.
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THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
3 0 H o l s t o v, A . , Bridgens, B. and Farmer, G. (2015). Hygromorphic materials for s u s t a i n a b l e r e s p o n s i v e architecture. Construction and Building Materials, [online] 98, pp.570582. 31 Adelman, I. (1975). Growth, income distribution and equity-oriented development strategies. World Development, 3(2-3), pp.67-76. 32 Huber t, C. and Theocharopoulou, I. (2015). Humanitarian Design. In: A. Chun and I. Brisson, ed., Ground Rules for Humanitarian Design, 1st ed. West Sussex: Wiley, p.29. 33 Humanitarian c h a r t e r a n d minimum standards in humanitarian response. (2011). 3rd ed. Hampshire: The Sphere Project, p.260
The above table shows that appropriate technology can be flexibly used at different degrees and levels according to the situation of the region or nation. That also demonstrates that appropriate technology is not restricted in only villages or poor countries but also the developed countries. In that case, the Human scale development approach is actually applicable at least in the self-supporting technology aspect. As appropriate technology serves both developing and developed countries in different degrees, the only main differences is that the developed countries have more experiences and knowledge on researching the potential of natural material and the creation of renewable resources. One of the main purposes of appropriate technology is to increase job oppor tunities. This will be related to the impacts of architect’s material choices on maintaining self-reliance community as well as creating job opportunities. This will be continued in the third approach.
Human resource development approach Irma Adelman’s approach focuses on the development of human in terms of skills and knowledge. This approach shares the same precondition of humanised development which requires the resources to be redistributed. The approach is mainly for the poor countries to enhance their competitiveness nationally. She concluded that the growing skills of labour would advocate the development of industrialization for poor region.31 From “levels of appropriate technology” table as shown in the previous section, it is noticeable that a higher level of technology requires labour with more skills and experiences. Hubert and Theocharopoulou stated in a chapter of the book “Ground rules for Humanitarian Design” that, The best practices of contemporary design are based on cooperation between rich and poor, north and south, coming together to define and address problems by utilising knowledge and expertise from both educated professionals and local knowledge sources. The quality of these relationships is key.32 Viewing the Human resource development approach from an architectural perspective, architects should endeavour to involve design participatory of local people throughout the design process. A guidebook for humanitarian response, the Sphere project, also recognised that getting the local people to involve in the construction process is a benefit for them to learn new skills. The construction knowledge that they acquire can help maintaining or even repairing their house in the future without assistance so as to achieve a selfhelp community.33 Apart from gaining new construction skills, local people can also express their opinions on their needs to the architects. This will THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
43
undoubtedly enhance the understanding of the local needs so that architects can propose a more pertinent design solution to meet the people’s needs. A successful example of collective design addressing living quality was recorded in the par ticipatory design handbook.34 The project “Floating villages” aims to design an affordable floating plantation for the low-income families who live on the Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia in 2012. This project had involved the local people to contribute ideas and thoughts through interactive consultation activities. The outcome reflects participatory design approach not merely to improve the people living quality through the contribution of both professionals and locals, but also to develop the potential of participants’ problem solving skills through design. Moreover, it helped to moderate the local gender inequality as those female participants gained more self-esteem after seeing their achievements from this project. With reference to the human resource development approach, the investment of human skills and development can improve the local quality of life so that the social conditions allow taking a step forward to another stage of development, the Industrialisation. It will then create job opportunities due to the large demand of skilled labour.
34 Ferguson, K. and Candy, S. (2017). Par ticipatory Design Handbook. 1st ed. [ebook] pp.7, 5960. Available at: http://kateferguson. org/documents/ Participatory-DesignHandbook.pdf [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017]. 44
THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Figure 33 The design team worked with the local people on the design solution. Professional and local people can learn from each other in different aspects.
Figure 34 Local people and design team are working on the prototype of the floating plantation. The design integrated with the use the local skills which makes the construction process more efficient.
Figure 35 The lady in the picture was one of the participant of the workshop. She learnt the construction skills from the workshop and experimented different new skills to construct the floating plantation. THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
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Figure 36 This is the final product of floating plantation. It is affordable for low-income family to build and run in the future.
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Integrated rural development approach Having the similar purposes of improving human well-being, Albert Waterston focuses on improving the standard of living for rural population through developing the self-reliance of the rural area. This has to start with the land reform of the rural area politically, socially and economically. Waterston’s approach is trying and making an effor t to address the rural pover ty problem at a wide context through agriculture, social facilities and industry.35 This includes strategic provision of job oppor tunities for local people commensurate with their skills and ability.
35 Waterston, A. ( 1 9 7 3 ) . Pr e p a r i n g a program for agriculture. 1st ed. Washington: E c o n o m i c Development Institute, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, pp.1018. 36 Cesal, E. (2015). Humanitarian Architecture Is Hip. Now What?. In: A . Chun and I. Brisson, ed., Ground Rules for Humanitarian Design, 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, pp.212217. 37 Chun, A. (2015). Intelligent Materials and Technology. In: A. Chun and I. Brisson, ed., Ground Rules for Humanitarian Design, 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, pp.150-153.
Placing this approach in an architectural context, a project that created by an architect can have profound impacts on making more job oppor tunities for the local people. Eric Cesal, a humanist architect and the director of Architecture for Humanity, opines that architects should have a greater ambition to provide people a better living not just by designing the building or living environment but also endeavour to reduce or eliminate the social issue when situation is capable.36 He mentioned that architects were well-trained in designing cost-effective solutions and comprehended the benefits of standardising materials and structures. However, when it came to helping the low-income population to get jobs, those cost-saving design cannot assist to achieve that purpose. He said, By emphasizing materials that are handcrafted and locally sourced, you can create jobs that promote local pride and economic wellness. The decision of whether to use metal studs or wood studs is one that could be driven by code, climatic decisions or local tradition and so on… The decision to use metal studs will positively impact all industries associated with the manufacture, transport and installation of metal studs...A decision to use wood studs would likely benefit forestry industries, nurserymen, long-haul trucking and many others. Depending on where each material is sourced, it is wholly possible that the benefits would differ by whole countries or continents. It should be part of the designer’s process to consider the full economic value chain during design process. Every decision that architects made are of important towards stimulating new industry for the local community. This is because new materials and technologies are always being discovered or innovated when architects and designers are in search of sustainable material. Alice Min Soo Chun, 37 a professor of Design and Material Cultures, expresses that many useful natural resources are underdiscovered and believes architects can give those material an oppor tunity to become a useful renewable material. She takes banana fibre and coconut fibre as examples. For instance, the countries that abound with banana and coconut can utilise THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
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the fibre of the fruits to produce mattress or any kinds of fabric in a more ecological way. Banana fibres is strong and durable but more importantly it is naturally biodegradable that contributes eco-environment. Owing to its high permeability and durability, It is a sustainable alternative for floor covering. In addition, coconut fibres can be easily found in Africa and also due to its wide range of roughness, it is suitable for making it into different products from domestic to agricultural usage. Both of the fibres require techniques extraction but it can be done by simple and easy-learnt technology, and hence, this simulates the industry so as to increase the job opportunities for local people. The role of a competent architect is not just emphasizing his/her design on the basic human needs or stepping further to a higher level to satisfy his client on desires and actualisation. Modern architecture is trying to exhibit technology in fulfilling human desires. In doing so, other factors should not be undermined. The human resource and integrated rural development are crucial factors to be instilled in a design. Not to mention the cost of the construction is paid by the rich but the poor shall also be benefited like work force, and natural processed material by which the society will gain whilst the society is constructing those contemporary building and civil construction and turning them into commodities. Without the consideration of material usage processed by the front line workers and the adaption of work processing involving abundant of manpower, the building, merely a workshop element employing machines for massive production, will only achieve the goal of the rich but not narrowing the gap of rich and poor.
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THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Figure 37 This is the banana fibre which needs labour to extract the fibre from banana plants.
Figure 38 This is banana yard that is made by banana fibre and this can produce as matress or any form of floorings.
Figure 39 This is the texture of coconut fibre. Its textrure is rougher than the banana fibre.It can be very tough and durable for industral uses. THE EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT
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CONCLUSION This dissertation is looking at various aspects that architects can satisfy the true human needs and simulate the development in a more longterm and sustainable way. In order to conclude this, this dissertation first raised a discussion of materialism in relation to human development from an economic point of view. Then, it makes reference to the standpoints of economists on the nowadays development visions and they all shared the similar opinion that pursuing economic growth as development cannot fully satisfy our true needs but lead to environmental deterioration eventually. It then brings a question of what is the aim of the humanitarian development. It is apparent to satisfy the human needs and to enhance the quality of wellbeing in spite of current trend of design practices.. Realising this development approach requires ideal conditions to support. The situation of disaster relief qualifies most of the prerequisite pre-conditions and expresses the potential of humanised approach in an architectural context. Evaluating the satisfaction of human needs through Shigeru Ban’ work, it is inspiring to see how Ban re-developed the community focusing on the fulfilment of human needs. The satisfactory level of needs from his work shows the possibility of pushing the boundary of basic architecture needs beyond survival level of physical needs. Achieving a high fulfilment of human needs with long-term vision, he also lifted up the standard of the living conditions in the aftermath through his work. It is realised that the architects act as a facilitator to help people to attain their needs rather than to give the needs that people’s want. It is believed that humanitarian design should endeavour to explore the potential of architecture with an aim to contribute to the improvement of well-being. The last chapter of this dissertation suggested three different approaches to address human crisis with their respective focuses. This explores the potential of architects to work on improving people living quality through solving the social and environmental issues. Their decisions of using the types of building technology and building materials can make a profound impact on enhancing the quality of life as a whole. These decisions can simulate a finding of new renewable resources, local participatory on design strategy and even a new industry with the support of local resources. Therefore, the self-reliance living style that is proposed by humanised development is not a backward development but it is exactly showing a development of a superior pursuit of improvement. This is because it advocates in searching improvement of people’s quality of life as an ultimate goal. It is worthwhile to note that the need of architecture only takes a portion of all the human needs, albeit it does not mean the impact of architecture would only limit within its boundary. It can definitely make an influential impact on the other levels of needs, depending on whether architects are willing to take one more step to observe and think about the true needs of people and work CONCLUSION
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towards the cause of stopping people to attain well-being. All the humanising approaches are merely suggesting more directions for architects to assist in improving the living environment and the wellness of human being. There should have no limit to search for the possibility to enhance people's quality of life with sustainable development.
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