The Hydra Pier Pavilion
ARCHITECTURE+SOCIAL FABRIC
Social Framework
The built environment strongly affects all human activities and the revenue of the construction industry in Europe alone, in 2022, was 2.1 trillion euros with the public sector as one of the main players in the industry (Statista,2024). “The traditional way of working in the construction industry placed the government – in the role of client – in control. The public client commissioned the execution of these construction works to private contractors, while, simultaneously, focusing on the broader value of the construction product.” (Kuitert,2021).
The Hydra Pier Pavilion was commissioned by the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer and was constructed in a public space reflecting the public values of a certain era. As societies evolve so does the way we perceive both the public space and the government as a client of the construction industry in the public space framework. For example, the “public” element contains the element of homelessness and raises serious questions (Mitchell,1995) or the afterlives of monuments have a multi-media nature as they travel” through image-banks, archives, collections and exhibitions” (Cherry,2013)
Economic and managerial issues regarding the public and private participating actors, along with issues of transparency, risk allocation and policy effectiveness create a complex environment that does not always contribute to public goals (Wang, & Wilkinson, 2016). Several factors influence “the sector, the system and the industry “, like relative legislation and policies, societal challenges, the construction supply market, and government politics. (Kuitert,2021) At the same time issues regarding the leadership of the project, the team structure, the project planning and the sharing of the information are crucial (Cheng,2012) as the interaction among the diverse actors intensifies the complexity of any project delivery (Hall & Scott, 2019).
The immense societal changes call for public private collaborations, participatory architecture, safe, inclusive, sustainable and flexible (Flex Ready) public buildings that function as part for the infrastructure that enables society to deal with public health, societal and financial crises (World Economic Forum ,2020). Architectural design, aesthetics and environmental sustainability values ultimately aim to social equity transforming the architectural profession to a proactive, responsible tool of change promoting environmental and social justice (CCA,2024). The example of STALLED, regarding the inclusivity of public restrooms uses architectural design to face social issues unthinkable a few decades ago (STALLED,2024).
What is architecture for social purpose?
RIBA
How can architects bring social value to projects?
Seeking to improve the ways we live, work, and interact with one another through architectural design has a long history. Famous examples include model villages and utopian housing complexes in the nineteenth century and ideal cities dreamed up by Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier in the twentieth. These projects were born out of attempts to grapple with some of the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution, such as overcrowded cities, unhealthy housing, and poor working conditions.
What is the potential of architects to better serve a more just global future world for its people and the planets the occupy ?
ARCHITECTURE+TIME
architecture’s relationship with futurity
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Graduate School Of Design
Architecture is shaped by human emotions and desires,and then becomes the setting for furter emotions and desires.It goes from the animate to the inanimate and back again .For this reason it is always incomplete , or rather is only completed by the lives in and around it.It is background..
WHY WE BUILT, ROWAN MOORE (2012)
There is a public laundry in southern Portugal -possibly was ,as the ultimate victory of the washing machine may have causedits demolition....It stands on the border of a dusty road,amongst untended vegetation .It has no insignia to say what it is : no one from outsideits village needs to know,and its purpose is self-evident....This functional building is attuned to climate and society.It would not work in the same way in a colder place, and it is the artefact of a community where working together at laundry is (or was ) normal , and where there is sufficient collective organisation to create this communal facity.
WHY WE BUILD , ROWAN MOORE (2012)
COLLECTIVE
Stalled! was formed in 2015 to address the design consequences of this pressing social equity problem. It takes as its point of departure national debates surrounding transgender access to public restrooms to address an urgent social justice issue: the need to create safe, sustainable and inclusive public restrooms for everyone regardless of age, gender, race, religion and disability. .It shifts the terms of this debate by treating this as a challenge that can be addressed through design alternatives that do not accept sex-segregated bathrooms as a given. While most debates cast this as a transgender issue alone, the STALLED work casts a wider net by developing inclusive guidelines that take into consideration ALL people--of different ages, genders, religions and disabilities.
INCLUSIVE
ETHICAL
Τhere are benefits and drawbacks to the various technological advancements that the construction industry experiences (Schafer, et al., 2019).While it is imperative for all built environment production firms to see to their ethical and social responsibility commitments (Solanki, 2018) the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), smart building technologies (like the use of Internet of Things (IoT) for equipment control), and automation for the complementation of smart technologies have made tasks much easier and more straightforward in the design, construction, and running of built assets (Sotham-Engineering, 2023).
Therefore, buildings need to be designed and constructed with the aim of maintaining the natural aspect of the environment (Hawkes, et al., 2007) based on the values of biophilic design. Indoor air quality is highly dependent on the use of non-toxic materials, integration of green spaces, and incorporating adequate ventilation systems into the building. Doing these properly will greatly enhance occupant comfort and promote healthier living (Druckman & Gatersleben, 2019).
WELL-BEING
At the same time the construction industry faces skilled labour shortages that lead to delayed projects and increased construction costs (Ferry & Brandon, 1999). In this business framework worker safety is an issue that management must treat with the seriousness that it deserves (RIBA, 2023). Injuries and fatalities in the construction industries are some of the highest on record (SF, 2019), and much work needs to be done to reduce them (Mores, 2023).
WORKFORCE
DIVERSE
Why do we need more diversity among designers ?And why is designing for diversity such a paramount concern ? The build envirnonment reflects our culture,and vice-versa.If our buildings,spaces and places continue to be designed by a relatively homogeneous group of people,what message does that send about our culture?
DESIGNING FOR DIVERSITY ,ANTONY KATHRYN ( 2001)
Since the mid-20th century, assessing the performance of the built environment was recognized as an instrument to improve the efficiency in the design and construction processes. Advances in people-centred design approaches, more inclined to answer people’s needs and priorities, brought the emergence of methods and tools to improve the design of accessible and inclusive built environments. Through this paradigm shift in civil engineering and architectural design practice, the design of the built environment started evolving from merely addressing the performance of the built environment towards addressing needs related to accessibility. This evolution slowly embraced a more holistic approach, encompassing a wider concept of accessibility and inclusion and equity, focusing on people of all abilities, age, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, language, cultural background, national origin, ideology, and religion.....
Over the years, assessment tools started shifting their focus from only assessing barrier-free architecture to rating accessibility and lately inclusion. Evaluating accessibility features of buildings should be performed through a reliable and valid professional assessment based on existing norms and guidelines concerning functional capacity in individuals or groups of individuals (Iwarsson and StÂhl, 2003). However, when it comes to understanding aspects of the psychosocial sphere of human beings, encompassing equity, diversity and social inclusion, measuring only physical features of the built environment may constitute a limit. Several factors that relate to neurodiversity come into place. Individual’s experience and perspective, people behaviour and abilities, people’s attitudes, and subjective perception of the space are some of the most common and are explicitly person-centred and subjective.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING DESIGN, ICED21 - UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
AUGUST 2021, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) guidance to ensure that inclusion and accessibility are considered at every stage of the design and construction process.
Socially purposed architecture creates social surplus value by embodying ethical principles that affect positively the social fabric. On an economic and environmental level, it benefits individuals, social clusters and communities by empowering identities and community ties. (RIBA,2024) by embedding social value in concept, project methodology and design (Young,2024). The protected - by the Equality Act 2010- characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation (Gov.UK,2024) form the legislative basis for practicing socially purposed architecture (RIBA,2024). As we need to leave no-one behind the principles of Universal Design form a solid base of dignity in architectural creation in macro and micro level of built environment development .
As cities function as the engine of urban economic development they have attractive characteristics along with problematic ones: they are simultaneously interesting, lively congested, overcrowded and crime ridden. They cater to the needs of certain segments of the population and fail to respond to the needs of others (Hanson, 2004). At a certain point in a person’s lifetime the urban environment will fail to cover their needs.
“An inclusive environment is one in which all users, whatever their abilities, can carry out their day-to-day activities comfortably, effectively and safely without being restricted by the poor design, maintenance or management of the built environment. The principles of inclusive design aim to accommodate the broadest range of bodily shapes, dimensions and movements, in the belief that designers and manufacturers should ensure that buildings, products and services address the needs of the widest possible audience.” Hanson, 2004
Since the 1990s governmental policies promote built environment participation (Jenkins, Forsyth,2009). Architecture can affect the social and economic life of the community along with the legislative bodies, the policy makers and several individuals and institutions (AIA, 2022).
“A step beyond involvement on the ladder of community participation is co-creation, or co-design, where community members are integral in the planning, programming, and design process. Their ideas have direct influence on the design choices.” (AIA , 2022).
The culture of design inclusivity in education is of an extremely high importance and the issue of social mobility during architectural training and during the professional progress comes up as a “key barrier” (RIBA,2024). The social production of space entails social activity, individually and collectively and functions as a tool for societal analysis.” (Lefevre,1991). Other tools, like The Social Value Toolkit for Architecture effectively demonstrate the social impact of design in the lives of individuals (RIBA,2020).
Design process , Gensler (AIA . 2022)
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Seismic shifts in the awareness of our sector’s environmental impacts, social impacts and often problematic workplaces mean that ethical considerations are being repeatedly raised across the built environment sector. The last time behaviours and codes were this heavily scrutinised was in the early 1970s as the profession became aware of the impending ecological crisis. ‘Long life, loose fit, low energy’ was the mantra, and could have altered our perilous path had it been more eagerly embraced.
“Infrastructure provision” doesn’t sound very interesting at first, more like the necessary evil of making building components and spaces accessible in the horizontal and vertical direction while taking into account a wide variety of requirements. That’s why the ever more frequently encountered fresh interpretations of this design task by architects who take it as the pivotal element of their concepts, resulting in surprising yet compelling space configurations, are even more interesting.
Spectacular lifts and escalators, unusual floor plan arrangements or stairway sculptures that define the space provide staging for the required pathways. Infrastructure takes on the characteristics of an amenity and becomes an exciting spatial experience as well as a crucial criterion of a successful design. The separation between infrastructure and space dissolves, because the infrastructure becomes a space of sojourn and communication.
The volume at hand, in accordance with the typological approach of the series, shows the entire spectrum of interesting options for infrastructure provision, starting with school construction – which, far from the “never-ending hallway” character, already seizes upon current work methods in the draft stage and enables future-oriented learning – and continuing on to innovative concepts for residential, cultural and transport facilities, the sporting and working worlds, and even landscape planning. Alongside these extensive project documentations that provide a great deal of inspiration and stimulate new ideas, theoretical contributions of renowned specialist authors illuminate the topic in addition to the planning basics in regard to route guidance, steering of visitor flows, orientation in space, accessibility for the Disabled and the important task of light planning.
Designing Circulation Areas :Stairs, ramps, lifts - Routing - Planning principles
Christian Schittich ( 2013 ) , Edition Detail
