entrances or BORDERS ?
Christianshavn
freetown of Christiania
N o r d d y s s on
Bjøreekloen
Den B la Ka r a m e l
N o r d o m r å d e t
Mælkebøtten
Psyak Mælkevejen
Løve huset
F a b r i k s o m r å d e t
Prærien
Tinghuset Fredens Ark Syddyssen
character + area divisions Fortifications Residential ‘Christiania Town’
M i d t d y s s en
HISTORICAL early 1970s The acute housing shortage of affordable housing in conjunction with a vast area being vacated by the Danish army encouraged a group of people to squat and found the Freetown of Christiania. From squatting to Freetown the motives that have kept its existence have changed over the forty years, although negative connotations asociated with the unlawful and the unauthorized have stigmatized the area. Photo above: Primarily, the squatters envisaged the place to be a safe living environment for children.
the first action - 26 September 1971
SELF-BUILT , SELF-SUSTAINED The building fabric of the settlement consists of a mix of the former Bådsmandsstræde Barracks and self built dwellings, with a dramatic change from urban to rural character and varied density levels. Experimental building activity is practiced, based on consensus democracy and financial autonomy. Some army barracks were converted into workshops and integrated in a public area while new constructions range from self-built houses and converted workmen’s wagons.
building fabric prior 1971 1971-2012
Women’s blacksmith
Rampart
E1 F W4
W2
F
Green Hall W1
Main entrance
F
F
F R F
GH
Fredens Ark
F
W3
E2
F
F pedestrian access at the rampart’s lowest level Daginstitution Blikfang (nursery) Anna Wulffs Børnehave Christianshavns (kindergarten) Gymnasium Green Hall
buildings materials DIY shop
towards Christiania: Christianshavn Gymnasium
side entrance facing kindregarten on the left and Fredens Ark building on the right
‘Nemoland’
-cafe / kitchens
Carpenters’ Reuse Station/ Recycling facility with 19 different factions
public trace pedestrian flow Area’s Commercial Character : E O GH R F W
Big Events [ Cultural / Sports ] Other Community Services Green Hall Reuse / Recycling centre Restaurants / Cafes Workshops
Fredens Eng
sports/major outdoor events
‘Opera’
music venue, restaurant, childrens theater, Jazz club, wood workshop
Christiania Town
Building Office
Some areas, physically surrounded by the canal have been occupied, maintaining a rural character to a great extent. In contrast, Christiania Town has an very urban fabric, being the most mixed-use part of the settlement, with small businesses, workshops, cafes and some residential occupancy.
The Climate Change summit took place in the same neighbourhood in 2009, and while ended in widespread disappointment when heads of states failed to reach agreement, another meeting was taking place in Christiania. The Bottom Conference invited and hosted many associations and community representatives in Christiania, during which the matter was approached from a different angle, placing the responsibility from the politician to each individual. This meeting raised popularity of the freetown even more.
AREA CHARACTER GROUND CONDITION ANNA WULFFS BØRNEHAVE (kindergarten)
SITE SECTIONS 1:500
AREA CHARACTER
CHRISTIANIA BORDER LINE
CHRISTIANSHAVN’ RAMPART
b-b
FÆLLESKØKKEN ( SHARED KITCHENS)
NEMOLAND - KITCHENS MUSIC PERFORMANCES
FREDENS ENG - SPORTS GROUNDS / OUTDOOR CULTURAL EVENTS FREDENS ARK - 72 Residents
ARCHIVE , WELFARE CONSULTANCY, PRINTING SERVICES PEDESTRIAN/ FREDENS ARK - 72 Residents BICYCLE STREET COMMUNITY CENTRE
CANAL
REUSE RECYCLING SKATEPARK with 19 factions
c-c
ACCESS TO CHRISTIANSHAVN’ RAMPART AND CANAL
PRINCESSEGADE (STREET)
a-a
LOPPEBYGNINGEN - INFO CAFE -RESTAURANT/ CHRISTIANSHAVN ART GALLERY /MUSIC SCENE / CAR MUSEUM GYMNASIUM(850)
FREDENS ENG - SPORTS GROUNDS / OUTDOOR CULTURAL EVENTS
OPTIMISTEN (Carpenters’)
SURFACES / INFRASTRUCTURE / DEFINITION
CHRISTIANIA BORDER LINE
Christiania
Christiania
Christianshavn
Christianshavn
MATERIAL STACKS Within the perimeter of Christiania there is a large number of material stacks, unclaimed and it’s ambiguous whether they are unwanted or purposeful (in the eye of the stranger). However, in reality, around 90% of these stacks and piles of items lying in open spaces represent materials for reuse.
SPILDE (Danish) RECYCLING + waste/
Christiania thrives when it comes to recycling and waste reduction. There are around thirty recycling points within its perimeter, with material stacks in close proximity so that salvaged material can reused freely. In 2002, Christiania started its own recycling facility, funded by the community’s common fund. The recycling center was created in cooperation with I/S AmagerforbrÌnding (Danish waste managegement) and approved by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With 19 factions at the moment, where everything is accepted besides organic waste, the reuse station is a focal recycling centre for the whole of Christianshavn. Located in a car-free zone, all users access the site with bicycle carts or pushcarts. The way the space is articulated, being an open unbound space next to the most commercial street of the area allows free movement, and encourages its widespread use.
sta
rt
1 KM RensningsanlĂŚg Lynetten [waste incinerator]
reuse station collection route
SKILLED POPULATION - CUTLURAL IDENTITY
green areas commercial zone residential zone comercial consumption commercial production
Women blacsmiths established workshops in converted military barracks. They started developing their skills since the community’s need for new pipes for all the builings they inhabited
OFF-THE GRID Christiania is renowned for its progressive green agenda while being the oldest squat, marked principally by the 1991 Green Plan, (‘Den grønne plan’) .As a counter version of the local plan for the future of the area, it targeted on preservation of the fortifications and of the natural habitat, becoming a car-free zone, as well as adopting alternative energy generation. With the installation of solar panels, wind turbines, rainwater collection and compost toilets, the area has become independent by municipal services to a great extent. In 2006 Christiania was given the Initiative Award of the Society for the Beautification of Copenhagen. Many self-built structures have off-grid system using reed bed waster and some have green roofs.
CAR-FREE AREA
E N C O U N T E R S
I N
C H R I S T I A N I A
personal information
the encounter
revealed during encounter
sex
time spent with
method in which nationality of interaction community
occupation
age group
carpenter
Adult (A) Middleage (M) Senior(S)
when did I place of meet them? encounter
15
Thursday 15.12.11 09:00
tour guide & craftswoman
S
1h 30
Saturday 17.12.11 15:00
blacksmith
M
5
Tuesday 20.12.11 15:00
A
5
Monday 20.12.11 15:40
SHARED SPACE
SHARED SPACE
SHARED SPACE
DK
?
SE
?
?
Wednesday SHARED 22.02.12 SPACE 09:20
DK COPENHAGEN
A
rubbish collector/ admin
A
30
Wednesday 22.02.12 08:50
RANDOM
FR
S
1h 30
Sunday 18.12.11 18:30
RANDOM COPENHAGEN
IT
M
15
Monday 20.02.12 14:00
archivist
S
5
artist
A
1h 30
Tuesday 20.12.11 10:30
exhibition manager
S
1h 30
Sunday 18.12.11 18:30
RANDOM
carpenter
A
2
Monday 20.12.11 09:30
?
?/also works economy office
M
15
Monday 20.12.11 16:00
SHARED SPACE
DK
tour guide
S
1h 30
Monday 19.12.11 15:00
SHARED SPACE
DK
A
20
Wednesday 22.12.11 11:30
S
5
chef + cafe owner
Saturday 17.12.11 08:30
30years
? ?
Saturday 17.12.11 15:30
DK
DK
mushrooms
COPENHAGEN
SHARED SPACE
!
33years
rubbish collector
1h 45
something important
28years
DK DK
RANDOM
US
?
DK
oc-cu-py 1 reside or have one’s place of business in (a building) • fill or take up (a space or time) • be situated in or at (a place or position in a system or hierarchy) • hold (a position or job) 2 fill or preoccupy (the mind or thoughts) • keep (someone) busy and active 3 take control of (a place, esp. a country) by military conquest or settlement • enter, take control of, and stay in (a building) illegally and often forcibly, esp. as a form of protest
global global
The word occupy, in English, has at least three definitions, two of which apply to the process of claiming and using space. One definition refers to the simple act of being in a place, while another is tied to our legal framework and the concepts of land ownership, tenure, and squatting.1
battle for h o u s i n g r i g h t s and s t r a t e g i e s of s u r v i v a l ideological struggles and the desire for a l t e r n a t i v e ways of l i v i n g
s q -u a t- t i n g
The world map shows the motive of informal settlements across the globe, and the names that have been associated with them.
INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS
occupation and transformation of land and buildings that are unused or underused. 2
The urban population living in squatter settlements is currently one billion, a 3 number projected to rise to two billion by 2050.
North South
squatted social centre, free cultural spaces political centres, ubran homesteading, event, campaign project, movement, freetown geçekondu, mutirão, shanty town favelas, shacks, barrios ,popular settlements, slum, katchi abadi
This writing attempts to give an overview on how architecture in its recent practice has been influenced by the contexts of informal settlements. From the social housing policies in Britain and the U.S.A to the severe housing problems faced today in the global South, notably in Central and South America and through the analysis of projects and investigations, it aims to demonstrate in what ways has the informal world expanded on the roles of architects internationally.
One aspect of influence is evident in the way of thinking and notably in the wider-spectrum methodologies developed in order to approach neighbourhoods and housing developments more successfully, with an end aim to resolve their urgent housing need. Engaging with communities in the informal world in order to provide adequate housing has raised issues as to the means used to reach to informally developed environments but has also contributed in the changing role of the architect in the formal world. Housing the poor is in more demand than before with population growth and, meanwhile, it has been proven ineffective to employ conventional methods and procedures that the architect is academically trained for or that the planning authorities prescribe for 1.
SLUMS: TRANSFERABILITY TO THE PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE
Considering different approaches within informal settlements around the world resulted in changing mentalities as to the position of the architect, encompassing an aspect of co-operation, at a level that had not been practiced before. The words of enablement and participation are often cited when referring to the work of community architects. They have become prevalent attitudes and tools, explored in the recent years in a myriad of project-exemplars. In the effort to approach in order to solve expansive housing deficiencies,
ARC5004: Architectural Theory
changes were also developed in the planning policy. Not only in the marginalized world, developed countries
Essay submission: Semester 2, 17 April 2012
have experienced shifts in their housing policies and design strategies since the late 1960s, which
Student no. 109249074
incorporated an additional role of the architect- the facilitator 1.
Social housing as an investment instead of an expense The half-house project in Iquique, Chile by the practice Elemental and architect Alejandro Aravena demonstrates a much-admired role of the architect-facilitator, by developing new modes of social sustainability and affordability. The philosophy behind it is based upon showing an understanding of the flexibility and freedom that the residents of the particular squatter settlement are accustomed to and also responding to the limitations of low subsidized support being sufficient to build half a house for each of the hundred families of the community and within the existing plot of land. In an effort to consolidate their homes, 2
Elemental designed the basic structure, kitchen and bathroom of homes, delivering the housing development at an incomplete phase, allowing the inhabitants to occupy and use and continue building their homes, while maintaining the strong sense of the neighbourhood that was there before their intervention 2.
Self-help rehabilitation project on Black Road, Macclesfield, Rod Hackney
Fig.2
Architects with a more critical or social engagement Architecture that has been granted more social relevance and optimism has emerged from projects and investigations taking place in the informal world. One notable example is the work of Estudio Teddy Cruz. Within both his research and projects, Teddy Cruz aims at affordable housing within a poor economic
Quinta Monroy project in Iquique, Chile by Elemental Fig. 1
situation and lack of resources, situated in the San Diego-Tijuana border 3. The project of Casa Familiar looked at co-operation and negotiation between NGOs, micro-developers, the municipality, financial
The capacity for change, expansion and adaptation strongly characterize the design strategy of the above
institutions and the architect acting as the designer of this collaboration 4. While aiming at improving housing
example in a developing country. Nevertheless, flexibility in housing also became as relevant to architectural
at the particular community's patterns in the U.S/Mexico border, this project has been highly influential on a
design in the first world. Squatter settlements were incrementally increasing through informal and formal
wider scale. Aspiring to bridge between the formal and the informal, the illegal and the legal but meanwhile
networks in countries such as Britain and the United States and many professional architects began observing
designing an architecture which can be of prototypical character, and be adopted in the U.S as low-income housing, especially in the current times of economic crisis.
1
them from a different and positive perspective; being in the path of improvement and not decline . Britain's legislative planning authorities witnessed challenges about standardized plans in conjunction with
In addition, it should be noted that an increasing number of projects and public interventions, although more
high vacancy rates in the housing stock . Projects such as the Black Road self-help rehabilitation project,
artistically orientated, have taken place globally, relating to the social practices of architecture in motivating
encouraged and instrumented by Rod Hackney in Macclesfield or the Adelaide Road Estate in 1979 by the
ways. It is evident in the project of Morrinho: The London Favela that, the activities of engaging with the
Greater London Council with Nabeel Hamdi and Nick Wilkinson's PSSHAK (Primary Support Structures and
particular area of Stockwell Park Estate have proven fruitful as toolkits for uncovering the aspirations of the
Housing Assembly Kits) were pioneering projects that brought about official change in the Housing Acts that
people living in these impoverished areas. Through a collaborative process, a spatial intervention was made
1
1
followed . In effect, this meant more public participation in the form of client consultancy about house plans
at the Southbank Centre, in London, transforming it, meanwhile, in a public event 5.
at an earlier stage. In addition, flexibility and creativity in technical design became an intellectual challenge
Similarly, the work of the artist Vik Muniz, published in the documentary Wasteland 6, gained widespread
on behalf of the architect 1.
acclaim, where he engaged with people living and working at the biggest landfill in Rio de Janeiro and 3
4
produced artwork with a team of residents and workers of the area, eventually publishing it in New York and
The architect, in this case, has been involved in a different set of pragmatic issues and with his works,
London exhibitions and auctions. These projects, have succeeded in using representational means creatively
extrapolating current economic and political affairs. Through these projects, he takes a stance to issues of
to bridge between the two worlds, on one hand approaching and revealing needs of low-income
land use, density and space making, in relation to the changing value of objects as they are exit one country
neighbourhoods and on other, raising a more pragmatic awareness amongst urban planners and architects
and enter another. To some extent, that has created an interrelation between the micro scale of objects being
who would take action in these areas in their own expertise.
displaced and the macro-scale nature of land use and how such a politically charged zone is planned and developed. It can be noted that the architect is not looking at the areas as neutral country borders or as sacred zones that should not be touched, but rather, investigates these geopolitical borders to make meaningful space for solving housing needs.
Casa Familiar - Parcel-by-parcel investigation of land use in San Ysidro, Estudio Teddy Cruz Fig 3+4.
Apart from having an impact on changes to legal and political issues relating to the built environment, informal settlements have been a source of broadening the role of the architect on buildings systems and materials, drawing attention to the micro-scale of design. In the projects Manufactured Sites and Temporal
Installations: InfoSite, Mikes Davis and Teddy Cruz propose a transitional architectural system, empowered by a multiplicity of sociopolitical realities at the most trafficked border in the world. On a first level, the projects seek to upgrade the informally settled housing at the periphery of Tijuana, by reusing and re-appropriating the infrastructural waste, coming from the American assembly (maquiladora) factories. This has manifested an exploration in prefabricated design of manufactured objects in the context of building housing and sustaining communities. On a second level, the architect is interested in designing spaces, in a form that mirrors the political and economic realities, as these illegal communities are the ones, which also support the legal industries which extracting their labor within this free economic zone. Finally, the projects express a spatial practice of densification of the suburban fabric, applicable to other contexts, advocating modifications in the legal structures, which would allow for architecture to flourish in its traditional sense 3.
5
6
negotiations between parties. They are, also, paradigms on how design can learn from squatter settlements, in an attempt to unblock problematic arteries in today's cities. This writing focuses on describing an architectural commission, which has an interest in the wider political and economic realities. The projects chosen show the levels of transferability that can emerge out of a closer look
Denmark
at informal settlements to the practice of architecture. They tell how social needs can transform the effective structure and function of quality architecture and how the architect plays a significant role in orchestrating the Words counted: 1459
negotiations between parties. They are, also, paradigms on how design can learn from squatter settlements, in an attempt to unblock problematic arteries in today's cities.
Copenhagen
Reference list 1 Hamdi, N. Housing without Houses: Participation, flexibility, enablement, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991. Words counted: 1459
2
Spatial Agency. Elemental [Online] Available at: http://www.spatialagency.net/database/elemental, [Accessed: 1 April
2012] 3 Spatial list Agency. Teddy Cruz l [Online] Available at: http://www.spatialagency.net/database/estudio.teddy.cruz, [Accessed: 1 Reference April 2012] 1 Hamdi, N. Housing without Houses: Participation, flexibility, enablement, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991. 4
Small
Scale
Big
Change,
New
of
Architectures
Social
engagement,
[Online]
Available
at:
Inner city of Copenhagen
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/projects/casa_familiar [Accessed: [Accessed: 1 April 2012] 1 April 2 Spatial Agency. Elemental [Online] Available at: http://www.spatialagency.net/database/elemental, 2012] 5
Cathy
Woolley.
Project
Morrinho
:
Southbank
Centre
Favela
[Online],
Available
at:
http://www.crwoolley.com/index.php?/southbank/southbank-centre-favela/ [Accessed: 1 April 2012] [Accessed: 1 3 Spatial Agency. Teddy Cruz l [Online] Available at: http://www.spatialagency.net/database/estudio.teddy.cruz, April 2012] 6 4
Christianshavn
Wasteland, 2010 [Documentary] Directed by: Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, Brazil: Almega Projects, O2 Filmes Small
Scale
Big
Change,
New
Architectures
of
Social
engagement,
[Online]
Available
at:
Figures: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/projects/casa_familiar [Accessed: 1 April 2012] 1 Quinta Monroy project, Iquique, Chile by Elemental, http://www.archdaily.com/10775/quinta-monroy-elemental/ 5
Cathy
Woolley.
Project
Morrinho
:
Southbank
Centre
Favela
[Online],
Available
at:
2 Rehabilation project on Black Road, Macclesfield, Rod Hackney, http://www.crwoolley.com/index.php?/southbank/southbank-centre-favela/ [Accessed: 1 April 2012] http://www.stpetersmacc.org/wordonthestreet/Changing_Face.html 6
Wasteland, 2010 [Documentary] Directed by: Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, Brazil: Almega Projects, O2 Filmes
3
Parcel-by-parcel investigation of land use in San Ysidro, Estudio Teddy Cruz
1 Quinta Monroy project, Iquique, Chile by Elemental, http://www.archdaily.com/10775/quinta-monroy-elemental/ Bibliography:
Gregory, J., Lewis, D., Chang, C., Community design, by the people, Tokyo: Process Architecture Pub. Co.,1977. 2 Rehabilation project on Black Road, Macclesfield, Rod Hackney,
Mixed use area
freetown of Christiania
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/projects/casa_familiar Figures:
Commercial Zone Cultural activity Residential area
7
M
Education / Recreation Creative Industry Military
http://www.stpetersmacc.org/wordonthestreet/Changing_Face.html Jonathan Skinner, 2011. Discourse camping - Ecopoetics as transitional architectural system, Jacket2.org/, [Blog], 26 August,
Industrial zone
Available at: http://jacket2.org/commentary/discourse-camping, [Accessed: 1 April 2012] 3 Parcel-by-parcel investigation of land use in San Ysidro, Estudio Teddy Cruz
Civic area
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/projects/casa_familiar LeguĂa, M., Latin America at the Crossroads: Architectural Design, John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Old industrial zone
Parks Old Port area Metro transport line High vehicular movement
Tripple
Canopy,
Learning
from
Tijuana
-
Calb
Waldorf
-
Teddy
Cruz
[Online],
Available
7
Inner city border
at:
Christianshavn border
http://canopycanopycanopy.com/7/learning_from_tijuana, [Accessed: 1 April 2012]
Freetown Christiania perimeter
1:10000
Recycling / Reuse facility