Sample Portfolio for Year 5, The Bartlett School of Architecture, Unit 22. Brief: Women and Architecture
Architecture as a Life Giving Catalyst ‘’The female body became the unskilled spectator who only witnessed the functioning of another in her own place.’’ (Hermann, 2008) The focus of this project revolves around a very important stage in a woman’s life, her moment of transition into motherhood. Without questioning medicine’s life- saving techniques, a woman’s entry into the hospitalised space of birth creates a preconceived role of a patient and in many cases a mere spectator. Anthropologists and medical professionals are questioning whether the medicalisation of childbirth has gone too far and state: ‘’It seems unlikely that any process which treats childbirth as a sickness could possibly be a healthy part of a healthy society.’’(Alexander, 1977) Today ‘solutions’ for the hostile environment of birth are found in the ‘’domesticated birthing room’’’ where a replica of the home is created and flowery wallpaper hide the medical equipment. The proposal challenges this notion of aesthetical representation and moves deeper than strategies of camouflage. Environments that trigger social exchange are the counter-acts of mere representation, which lean upon developing those power relations of ‘doctor’ and ‘patient’ to social relations. The site of the project is the island of Ikaria n Greece, described as the ‘red rock’ of Greece, known for its inhabitant’s life longevity, informality and spontaneous ways of life. The islands’ close knit farming communities are facing limited birthing facilities, forcing women to fly away from their home island to deliver on mainland Greece displacing them and their families. Stories that derived from my research trip’s workshops and interviews were embedded into the project and outcomes pointed towards disempowerment that derived from the lack of knowledge of the hospital space. When the relation of the ‘doctor/patient’ was transferred to spaces of Ikaria’s everyday- coffee shop/ festivals, market, that hierarchical relation was dissolved as it was allowed to develop. The proposal moved towards designing spaces of adjustability, multi-use and social exchange which transformed the passive pregnant body into an active participant. Depopulation of the Greek islands is partly due to the lack of health services but also by the minimal jobs offered towards young people. In order to create a self-funded proposal, start-up businesses which focus on the rich agricultural produce of the Greek islands attract young people back to rural villages. Here, the architecture becomes a catalyst for giving life back to a rural village, creating opportunities for the young, and companionship to the elderly of the dying villages. Retired doctors and midwives exchange their services and knowledge with those of the locals’, transforming hospitalisation to that of the arts of hospitality. Hospital spaces are rethought; the waiting room is transformed into a collective kitchen, where families prepare celebratory meals and labour lounges are surrounded by familiar smells and people, decreasing women’s stress levels. One is taken through various gardens; one of knowledge which is exchanged by the locals and visitors in areas of craftsmanship and farming, a garden of beginnings where multi-use housing expands according to family narratives and a garden of memories where the elderly share their stories of the past and create a depository of memorable objects. The garden of celebration concentrates outsiders and locals, where birthing once again becomes a social event, exposed, where the wait of the new member of the community becomes an opportunity for recreating childbirth narratives.
Testing qualities of flexible architecture;concepts of unfolding, transparency and lighting
Live workshops run on the island of Ikaria, were organised by me and were the key drive of my thesis and design project.