ARCH5110/6110I
Advanced Architectural Design Studio I & II – Building Resilience
Target Students MArch1, MArch2
Course Term 1 & 2
Course Type Required
Venue Studio
Teacher(s) XU, Liang / LI, Yigang (Collaborator from United Nations)
This studio focuses on designing civic/public facilities for self-organised communities in the informal settlements in Kenya - specifically Kibera in Nairobi and Muoroto in Mombasa. While these two settlements share common challenges typical of informal areas, such as high population density, poor infrastructure, and inadequate housing, they differ significantly in their geographic, climatic, cultural, and historical contexts. The design process will involve gaining a deep understanding of the social, cultural, and economic dynamics within these communities. The objective is to investigate how architectural design can contribute to building the resilience of these local communities in the face of ongoing societal changes, ultimately strengthening social cohesion and achieving sustainable development.
The studio targets neighbourhoods with informal social, environmental, and spatial structures. Significant populations in many rapidly urbanising cities in the Global South (including Nairobi and Mombasa, which will be studied in this studio) live in informal settlements. These settlements are often home to rural-to-urban migrants seeking better economic prospects, who turn to informality as a coping mechanism when the formal economy fails to provide sufficient employment and housing options.
Current debates in urban development studies highlight the need for more participatory, community-driven, and context-specific approaches to upgrading informal settlements, moving away from top-down redevelopment schemes. The studio urges students to examine and integrate bottom-up strategies during the programming process. This involves understanding how people in emergency conditions create their living environment and economic relationships, as well as evaluating how current local governance, policy-making, and regulatory frameworks support the improvement of informal settlements. Students should also consider the roles and contributions of other relevant stakeholders.
The studio promotes the idea of incorporating multiple programmes to encourage a variety of activities rather than designing a building dedicated to a single, static use. Specifically, it seeks to raise awareness among students about economic programmes such as cooperatives, community-owned businesses, and social enterprises. The goal is to explore how these programmes can help communities achieve self-financing, allowing community members to generate, manage, and reinvest resources within their own community. This would also help the community better withstand challenges and ensure the continuity of essential services and livelihoods, promoting long-term sustainable development and well-being.
The studio values the self-built approach commonly seen in informal settlements, as it allows residents to create housing and infrastructure tailored to their own needs and financial capabilities. However, lacking formal resources, such as technical assistance and building materials, makes the self-build process more challenging and time-consuming, leading to substandard living conditions and vulnerability. The studio believes that effective, sustainable solutions should be based on the nuanced realities and self-organising capacities of local communities. To that end, students will explore how the public can participate in and benefit from the construction process by designing structural prototypes and assembly methods that facilitate easy, high-quality, and safe self-building.
Furthermore, the studio encourages students to consider the flexibility and adaptability of the comprehensive construction system they are developing, exploring strategies such as "Design for Disassembly" and "Design for Adaptation" to support implementing a circular economy. When structures are designed for disassembly, residents can easily take them apart, salvage materials, and reassemble them as needs change over time or in response to external shocks and stresses. This flexibility is particularly valuable in informal settlements, where residents can efficiently reconfigure and reinforce their structures, maximising the use of limited resources. Moreover, as building components are reused and repurposed, the need for new, resource-intensive materials is reduced. This conserves scarce resources and minimises waste, strengthening the overall environmental and economic resilience of the settlement.
In summary, the studio aims to investigate the issue of sustainability for the resilient future of informal settlements from two key aspects: 1) Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11) - improving the living conditions and resilience of informal settlements/communities in a sustainable manner; and 2) Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) - employing design and construction approaches that minimise waste, promote the reuse of materials, and support circular economy principles. Individual design projects may also align with other relevant SDGs, such as Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6).
