Let’s begin.
This fellowship seeks to investigate the following:
What are the opportunities of the built environment to foster feelings of belonging?
To ask a space how it cultivates belonging is to question whether it achieves physical and emotional safety, barrier-free sensibilities, a certain relatability, an honest yet aspirational reflectivity. It is to carefully consider how each element, spanning from the tactile to organizational, contributes to an environment that is adaptable, accessible, equitable.
Objectives
Within this domain of inquiry, site visits, observation, and interviews were utilized to approach case studies of (4) architectural space types that largely fall under the public realm, each serving a different slice of humanity:
a library — Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt
a museum — National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.
a memorial site — National September 11 Memorial & Museum, New York, N.Y.
a housing community — Quartiers Modernes Frugès, Pessac, France
Each case study was observed through a framework, organized into three categories: architectural elements (form, materiality, programming, site context), community context (storytelling that reflects traditions and communal experiences), and individual experience (personal connection, personalization).
-
Les Quartiers Modernes Frugès
In the 1920s, Le Corbusier was commissioned by industrialist Henri Frugès to design a community to house the workers of his sugar factory. In the eyes of his peers, the community was deemed a failure. In the decades since, the community has continued to change, a reflection of the needs, hopes, dreams of the residents who inhabit it. The housing has become a recorded history and real time reflection of the ever evolving lives and values of its inhabitants. When asked how he felt about the residents’ customizations, Le Corbusier famously replied “It is the architect who is wrong and life that is right.” As Ada Louise Huxtable stated in a 1981 NY Times article, “This was not a confession of error. It was the recognition of the validity of process over the sanctity of ideology.”
How do we make space in design for life to unfold outside of design intent? How do we allow for (and even encourage) the desire in users to make a space their own?
-
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
In 1989, an anonymous international competition was held to design a new library where the Great Library once stood, founded some 2300 years ago. Now renowned for their careful, culturally connected approach, then-unknown Snøhetta won the competition with a design steeped in cultural symbolism and historical sensitivity. Since its completion, the building has been embraced by locals and travelers alike. During a period of political unrest, it is documented that students gathered around this architectural icon, holding hands in a chain to protect it.
At what point does a piece of architecture, something built first and foremost as shelter, become something that must be protected by the people? What are the contributing factors for a piece of architecture to feel as though it belongs to the people?
-
National Museum of African American History & Culture
A result of a decades long dream, the National Museum of African American History & Culture opened in late 2016. Noted greats David Adjaye, J. Max Bond Jr., and Philip Freelon won an international competition to design this museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Through thoughtful forms, careful material selections, and considered site context, the museum stands as a symbol for many things: a connection of African origins to the American experience, the welcoming of an open dialogue about race, an acknowledgement of the past, and hope for the future.
How can architecture contribute to opening a dialogue about the way we connect with and relate to each other? Can the built environment aid in reconciling the trauma of systemic racism? How can design provide space for all voices?
-
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Created in the wake of the attacks of 9/11, this site simultaneously holds space for what was, tells the story of what happened, memorializes the lives lost, and creates space for what follows. This site – the home of a new skyscraper, a museum, a memorial, and public space – is a culmination of work from four different firms with four wholly unique agendas and yet provides the visitor with a unified and cohesive experience.
Can a memorial site contribute to the healing of collective trauma? How can we work together to create meaningful experiences for our community?