Architectural Humanities ll (K12AH2)
Saw Swee Hock Student Centre Social, Political, Economic implications in design Tiffany Chan 4201706
Introduction and relationship between LSE and politics The Saw Swee Hock Student Center is the new student center of LSE (the London School of Economics and Political Science). The university itself has a high political relevance, therefore I would like to explore on the social, political and economic influence in design, evolving around Marxist ideas. The School has a big impact on the British parliament as there are currently 28 members in the House of Commons and 46 members of House of Lords from LSE. Many famous politicians have studied or taught at LSE, including Clement Attlee and Friedrich von Hayek.
democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.’ 2 In Hayek’s point of view, equality and freedom can only be reached by international free trade, little regulation of finance or business, which ties in with Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’ theory, running the economic system in an autonomous fashion and attract more foreign expertise to educated the working class within the country to solve class distribution.
Clement Attlee was born and raised by an upper middle class family in London, given that he has a relatively high social status, it enabled him to train as a lawyer at University of Oxford and because of his background, he was for conservatism, a view mainly supports free trade economy and less welfare. Before he became a lecturer at LSE and the prime minister of the UK, the witness of poverty shocked Attlee majorly during his experience in managing Haileybury House (A charitable youth organization in Limehouse). This determined him as a supporter of Marxism and may have influenced many other Marxist during his time of teaching at LSE. He is also a leader of the Labour party and the UK including the creation of NHS (National Healthcare Service), National Insurance and nationalized one fifth of the British economy.1 In contrast, through gaining experiences from different fields and cultures, Hayek disagreed with Marx’s socialism and edged towards classical liberalism. ‘Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom,” he said in 1848; ‘socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while
Figure 1 Clement Attlee, prime
Figure 2 Friedrich Hayek, former
minister of the united kingdom from 1945 to 1951
lecturer at LSE
Overtime, Hayek’s theory becomes more and more relevant to modern society such as the creation of the EU (European Trading Union), lower the trading barriers within Europe or even worldwide such as the (WTO) World Trade Organisation. But as Marx rightly pointed out, ‘the ideas if the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas’3The proletariat are often subjected to ‘false consciousness’, basing on Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), ‘the ruling class ideologically manipulate the proletariat through their ‘hegemony’, and regarded the role of intellectuals as crucial in challenging this domination’. 4The failure of the proletariat in having imperfect knowledge have caused them to have no choice but to believe in the decision made by the ruling class, but irrational and self-interest driven rulers often occur. This causes event such as the global financial crisis in 2007, bringing England into deficit resulting a reduction in welfare. The enhancement of privatization grew exclusively such as universities and public transportation, due to the government losing its control over its economy with lack of financial support during the epoch period. Therefore, Hayek’s idea were the only solution to retain liberty and freedom.
Figure 3 Karl Marx
LSE is one of the most prestigious schools under privatization in the UK, out of all European universities, LSE has educated the most billionaires according to a 2014 global census of dollar billionaires.5 For example The Saw Swee Hock Student Centre was named after an alumnus who donated £2.5 million towards the construction cost, meaning that people who can afford expensive education are most likely to become wealthier in the future. Figure 4 LSE campus in its narrow streets
Saw Swee Hock Student Centre Professor Saw Swee Hock has donated widely to universities in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and England to advance higher education, research, and social mobility among the less privileged students.6 For example funds towards the construction of the Student Centre at LSE and also scholarships at LSE to support the rights of education for all. Such action is seen as highly related to Marxism, since this type of donation could potentially reduce the gap of social distribution and rich and poor by tackling equality of opportunity. ‘Equality of opportunity, requires not merely that there should be no exclusion from access on grounds other than those appropriate or rational for the food in question, but that the grounds considered appropriate for the good should themselves be such that people from all sections of society have an equal chance of satisfying them.7’ (meaning that, discrimination based on social status, culture or economical barrier will be avoided, preventing some party better off than others to put up with democracy political system. By giving equal rights and authority to all members of society. If we gave to govern ourselves we have to do it rationally and responsibly, this require experts who has more experience or educated to aid and work together. With the work from professor Hock, knowledge can effectively spread to developing or third world countries, which could be life changing and vital in treating inequality. The 1930s economic debate between LSE and Cambridge is well known in academic circles. Since LSE has always been in competition with Cambridge, they want to offer the best for their students. As the subjects offered at the university are academic and not art based, the architecture is not seen as something of importance. As this is the first new building at LSE for 40 years, LSE is seeking to transform the student social experience by building the
best students' centre in the UK. The site will become a student hub at the heart of LSE's campus and should add significant value to the student experience at LSE. 8 They are aiming for the building to be ‘participatory, international, innovative, fun and highly sustainable.’ Said Julian Robinson, director of estates at LSE. Architecture plays an important role on achieving this. The Saw Swee Hock student Centre was designed by O’Donnell and Tuomey Architects. The Student centre was opened in January, 2014. The Student Centre offers everything you possibly need in a Student Centre, such as a café, gym, nightclub, pub, dance and exercise studio, chaplaincy, careers, accommodation office and more.
Figure 5 Professor Saw Swee Hock, whom the student centre was named after
Context The Saw Swee Hock Student Centre is situated in Westminster, central London in Holborn. The location advantageous as London is the capital of England and it is near the British parliament where most of the political events in the UK occurs. There are also many opportunities in London for the students of LSE, such as jobs, work experience, conventions, and competitions.
building in the complex shape and form to allow the rights of lights of its surrounding buildings. The carefully sculpted building sits on the site and merges into the ground being considerate about the streetscape, they bring the brick material of the faรงade into the ground of Sheffield Street.
The downside of studying in London, due to it being a capitalist state, it is mainly profit seeking. Based on its high dense population and the allocation of scarce resources such as lands, causing an inflation in housing prices and rental for accommodations. People tend to avoid living in the central area of London and move further away, the issue with living further is the travel cost. As public transport services such as the London underground are privately owned, therefore fares are often expensive without subsidies provided by the government. Although travelling around London is very convenient, commuting takes time and time is money, which often requires workers having to rush to work. On the other hand, tourist hotspots in London can cause an incline on pricing, this ties in directly with the scarcity on lands, where the landlords will generally charge more in rental for popular locations, in order to maximize the profit margin for themselves. This then triggers restaurants and supermarkets to overprice their food to cover the cost of rental. Therefore, by providing cafes in the student centre could partially reduce the living costs for students and it is convenient to be within the campus. The Entrance of the Saw Swee Hock student centre is on Sheffield Street and the side is along Portsmouth Street, sited in the mediaeval street pattern, surrounded by historical buildings, the architects took on an interesting approach in integrating the building into the site. The design has been very thoughtful as they designed a Figure 6 Contextual view from the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre roof terrace
Figure 7 Glimpse of Saw Swee Hock Student from St Clements Lane
Design Out of all buildings in London, nothing can demonstrate the core ideology of architecture better than the way O’donnell and Tuomey used bricks to build the Saw Swee Student Centre. ‘The key issue is the idea of architecture as a mode of “resistance” and transformation, with the power to effect change through its direct impact on the environment. As Marx had pointed out, in one of his earliest writings: "Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." 9 Brick isn’t the first material you would have in mind for the design of this student centre, as bricks are usually seen in very standardized box shaped buildings with right angles so the bricks could get around it but that didn’t stop O’donnell and Tuomey. Responding contextually around the site, the architects pointed out that London is a ‘city of bricks’ and they wanted to continue that pattern with a twist in the method of construction. Despite the struggle with the contractor as they do not pave London’s streets in brick anymore, they went about it as using the bricks as an ‘Apron’. The brick paving crawls out as if it was a ‘tongue’ and the entrance was the ‘mouth’ metaphorically, pulling the streets together, the building cannot be seen as a whole but you can get glimpses of it from the different streets.
honestly in construction. The design of the Saw Swee Student centre stands up to the movement as the revival of craftsmanship in a modern way, they have renewed the medieval streets by using the local materials and a new technique considering the local cultures. Instead of using standard bricks, they used difference sizes bricks to create shapes and pattern showing the truth of the material, designing carefully with a great depth of detail.
They used 46 standard shape bricks, 127 special bricks out of a total of 175,000, and not a single cut brick. 10 This was done very precisely measuring each angle of the sloped walls and perforated windows to give natural ventilation and shading. This amount of control requires great craftsmanship, as John Ruskin (1819-1900) says “Quality is never an accident, it is always the result of intelligent effort”.11 John Ruskin was one of the inspirations of the Arts and Crafts movement, the movement was about standing for principles of truth and authenticity to local design techniques and local cultures, Figure 8 Entrance on Sheffield Street, parts paved in brick
Figure 9 Materiality detail
Both the Arts and Crafts movement and Marxism were responses to the the problems of industrialization, the Arts and Crafts movement was an aesthetic approach against industrialization and mass production. As John Ruskin said ‘no machine yet contrived, or hereafter contrivable, will ever equal the fine machinery of the human fingers’12, due to industrialization, the machines drew a separation between human and art. Marxist’s take on industrialization was about exploitation and dehumanizing laborers as a working tool for the bourgeoisie. Marx’s communist Manifesto was against industrialization as he wrote directly for the workers where he deliberated the class struggles. In the section ‘Bourgeoisie and proletariat’ he states that ‘the history of society in the past is the history of class struggles. Freemen and slaves, patricians and plebians, nobles and sergs, guild members and journeymen- in short. Oppressors and oppressed, have always stood in direct opposition to each other.’ 13
Figure 10 John Ruskin, Inspiration to the Arts and Crafts Movement
The architects have addressed this class struggle in the design of the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre in a way, in this case, the class struggle of students from different social backgrounds. There may be a separation between the students supported by their wealthy family and the students receiving a scholarship or bursary to afford university. The idea behind this design is to bring egalitarianism, integrating different social class together. This features the spiral staircase, as a centralized focus, which everything revolves around, seen in plan (figure 13). This staircase functions as a continuous social space, it encourages interaction between students and staffs, with these environments they are given, the best way to learn is from others. The staircase is designed so that everyone walks up those stairs to get to places so they are bound to walk into or meet other people, maybe interact in some way.
Figure 11 The centralized staircase
Figure 12 staircase to the basement levels
Aside from connecting the people of a different social status, also connecting people from different cultural backgrounds as people from different countries seem to group themselves together. As LSE has such a high international intake with ‘a cosmopolitan student body, with around 9,500 full time students from 140 countries’, 46 per cent of staff drawn from countries outside the UK,’ 14there are many people of different cultural backgrounds. To cater for all the religious believes, there are also many the faith centre with multifaith prayer rooms catering different religions the rooms includes ‘a large room for events, a social space, a quiet area for prayer and meditation and male and female Muslim prayer rooms, as well as the Chaplain’s office.’ 15 All these features reflects on the enhancing flow of globalization process, ‘The material aspects of globalization are evident in a range of phenomena including flows of trade, capital, and people facilitated by communications, transport, and financial infrastructure.’16 Proving LSE’s determination in anti-nationalism, where the cultural difference base on their nationality will be openly accepted. In a global context, such act will be seen as a step in reaching globalization. “the ability of a culture, when it encounters other strong cultures, to absorb influences that naturally fit in and can enrich the culture, to resist those things that are truly alien, and to compartmentalize those things that, while different, can nevertheless be enjoyed and celebrated as different” 17. This will significantly reduce conflict of discrimination based on race differences and reach sustainable social harmony amongst society.
Figure 13 First Floor Plan
Figure 14 Prayers room in the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre
Conclusion In the introduction, I explored the connection of LSE to politics through its background, the two approaches to equality, the Marxist idea and Hayek’s. By contrast, in my opinion I prefer Marx’s approach to liberalism than Hayek’s. I believe that the society should be restrained with rules and regulations proposed by authorities, and without intervention, the bourgeois or the rulers may exploit their power over the minorities causing tyranny style of ruling and monopolies to grow within the economy. Meaning that, nothing will be ‘changed’, the aim of architecture set out to do in the first place. From my visit to the Saw Swee Hock Student centre, it struck me how the you get drawn into the building with from the street with the paving design on Sheffield Street. The building itself is very humble for what it is, it fits in so well with the context but stands out in its own way. The design part indicates how politics has played its part in architecture through ideas of Marxism and the arts and crafts movement. Industrialization led to less crafted buildings, modern architecture is simpler and less decorated but accommodates the growing population. Although it led to dehumanization in a way, if it was not for the machinery and technology, the construction of the student centre would have taken much longer to complete. I do believe that technology allows more flexibility and can be integrated with crafts. The machines allowed the bricks of the façade of the student centre to be calculated accurately and precisely made to achieve that neat finish. Although there are no direct links to Marxism and Architecture, by exploring social, political and economic aspects of ideas behind the
building, I believe that Marxism plays a part in the design of the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre from its political elements.
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Images Fig 1. http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/64/6064-004FE2393DC.jpg Fig 2. http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/authors/hayek.jpg Fig 3. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Karl_Marx .jpg Fig 4. http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/sites/default/files/imagec ache/threequaterwidth_cropped/LSE-hub.jpg Fig 5. http://bschool.nus.edu/Portals/0/images/SAW/Prof%20Sawphoto.jpg Fig 6. http://s3.amazonaws.com/europaconcorsi/project_images/432 4825/DGIL-0122-0022_full.jpg Fig 7. Photograph by Tiffany Chan Fig 8. Photograph by Tiffany Chan Fig 9. Photograph by Tiffany Chan’ Fig 10. http://www.robin-wood.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2014/02/John_Ruskin.jpg Fig 11. photograph by Tiffany Chan Fig 12. photograph by Tiffany Chan Fig 13. http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/Saw-Swee-HockStudent-Centre-at-London-School-of-Economics_dezeen_61_1000.gi Fig 14. http://www.nus.org.uk/ImageVault/Images/id_15339/convers ionFormatType_WebSafe/scope_0/ImageVaultHandler.aspx