KALIL | THESIS | preventing rural exodus through development

A6 Meeting: Public Presentation

2009-04-23T10:52:00.005-04:00

Border Comparisons

2009-01-27T22:37:00.006-05:00

Here are aerials of different dry-land border cities . The first three are cities along the Brazil-Uruguay border. All these cities have grown around the border, just as many cities grow along a main axis. I have arranged them from most to least "border-developed".

Rivera is the best known free trade zone in the Gaucho border. Its main source of income has been the tax-free shopping, so much so that after going into a Uruguayan cafe for a soda, the owner said, "Gracias, buenas compras!"

Xuí is the southernmost city in Brazil. It is the final stop before Uruguay for those traveling along the Atlantic coast of Brazil. Much like Rivera, it has developed along its major commercial avenue that sits on the Brazil-Uruguay border. The Avenue is the center of their own free trade zone.

Aceguá is also on the border between Brazil and Uruguay, about sixty kilometers south of Bagé. It did not have a free trade zone and has been very underdeveloped in its urban quarters. Its most successful developments are actually many miles outside the urban zone in the form of co-ops and horse farms. In 2007 the free trade zone was announced in the city and there is speculation that the city will turn into another shopping area for Brazilian Gauchos. So far, it is a distribution point for smuggled produce into Uruguay.

Just for the sake of comparison, here is Tijuana. The severe cut between the US and Mexico is such a stark contrast with the seamless border between Brazil and Uruguay that one must wonder how this "fronteira" has not been exploited more thoroughly yet.

Mundus Mound

2009-01-27T18:23:00.012-05:00

These were my boards for submission into the ACSA Steel Competition for 2008. It was in the spring semester of 2008 that I became interested in regionalist and incremental approaches to architecture thanks to my studio with Prof. Bennett and my seminar with Prof. Bechhoeffer.

Months later I have been finding images in Brazil of similar cases of what I proposed a year ago. This is the Edifício São Vito in São Paulo, Brazil:

Interview at CEASA

2009-01-22T19:01:00.001-05:00

An interview with Amurim, a "carregador ambulante" or freelance carrier. He transports goods from trucks or loading docks to the market building and from the market building to the buyer's truck. I caught him at the end of the work day and he gave me his thoughts on how to improve the CEASA.

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Interview with "Velho"

2009-01-22T18:48:00.006-05:00

An interview with "Velho", the general store owner at Colonia Nova, the co-op just north of Aceguá. It was difficult to find someone to talk there, since they always claimed either to be too ignorant to be worthy of documenting or to not know anything worth mentioning. It takes a few minutes for them to warm up to you, often without a camera, so for this interview I hid my camera while chatting.

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How I put myself in danger and didn't even know

2009-01-21T23:03:00.010-05:00

In Google-ing for Aceguá, I found a news article - perhaps the only news ever coming from Aceguá- that happened on the same day that I was there taking pictures and video and being interrogated by the look-outs. Turns out the same contraband group that I caught on camera was caught some miles down the highway with over five tons of contraband Brazilian fruits and vegetables. It looks like I should stay away from Aceguá for a little while, or at least go in a different car, so that they don't blame me for their capture...

Here is the original news feed:

Uruguai apreende contrabando brasileiro de frutas e verduras
2008/12/26

MONTEVIDÉU (AFP) — Funcionários da Alfândega uruguaia apreenderam nesta sexta-feira mais de cinco toneladas de frutas e verduras produzidas no Brasil e que entraram ilegalmente no Uruguai, informaram autoridades.
A apreensão ocorreu na região da fronteira com o Brasil, entre as cidades de Melo e Aceguá, a cerca de 400 km de Montevidéu.
No total, foram apreendidos 5.400 quilos de batatas, cenouras, mangas, mamões e bananas, acondicionados em caixas sem identificação do produtor ou importador, como determina a legislação uruguaia.
Segundo a Alfândega, o contrabando entrava no Uruguai transportado por motos, do território brasileiro, e era distribuído entre diversos varejistas.

and translated:

Uruguay captures contraband of Brazilian fruits and vegetables
2008/12/26

MONTEVIDEO (AFP) — Uruguayan customs workers apprehended this Friday more than five tons of fruits and vegetables produced in Brazil and illegally entered into Uruguay, inform authorities.
The apprehension occurred in the frontier region with Brazil, between the cities of Melo and Aceguá, about 400 km from Montevideo.
In total, there were 5,400 kg of potatoes, carrots, mangoes, melons, and bananas in boxes with no identity of producer or importer, as is required by Uruguayan legislature.
According to customs, the contraband entered Uruguay by motorcycles, from the Brazilian territory, and were distributed to diverse vendors.

Change

2009-01-20T23:19:00.002-05:00

I was there.

Images of the CEASA

2009-01-19T19:49:00.004-05:00

I took far far too long to decide to visit this place. Two weeks into my trip and documenting too many things I will never use, I found my pot of gold. The CEASA-RS is the "Central de Abastecimento do Rio Grande do Sul", an agricultural supply center. Farmers and sellers from the entire state drive to this complex between Porto Alegre and CANOAS to sell their produce at wholesale quantities. Local markets and restaurants all buy their supplies here directly from the planters. The complex within its 6 working hours circulates over 40,000 people every day. There were plans to double the complex but the land needed has yet to be purchased. The chaotic scene is the best proof of the success of the CEASA. It is the only major center in the state, although there are two micro-CEASAs in Pelotas and Caxias do Sul. Centers like these in smaller scales could maximize the distribution capabilities of the producers in the state, especially in places lacking strong trade organization like in the Pampas.

In the administrative building I also found old pictures of what the distribution centers looked like before the CEASA and a few pictures from the CEASA's construction.

Images of IAPI and Vila dos Comerciarios

2009-01-19T18:27:00.003-05:00

The Instituto de Aposentadorias e Pensões dos Industriários (IAPI) was built in 1936 during the "Estado Novo", headed by Getulio Vargas with similar ideals as the "New Deal". There are IAPI's in several Brazilian cities, all built as "cidades jardins", much like garden cities in the United States such as Greenbelt, MD. The IAPI is now a neighborhood in Porto Alegre since it has been surrounded by development.

The most striking difference between IAPI and Greenbelt is the preservation of the place. Architects in Brazil are constantly enfuriated by the "discharacterization" of planned towns, they complain about the modifications to the buildings, the landscapes, and the building uses. On the other hand, the inhabiting of these places and gradual modifications and marks left by its residents adds an incredible amount of character and physical layers of history. My impression of IAPI is that even an iron-fist home-owner's association could not have prevented the incremental changes of the neighborhood.

An aerial photo of the IAPI

Mercado Publico in Porto Alegre

2009-01-19T17:08:00.006-05:00

The Mercado Publico in Porto Alegre is one of the best known in Brazil, particularly for its revitalization in the 1980s. It is still considered the best place to purchase fish in the country and is the anchor to one of the busiest public squares in the city. Around it, overflow produce sellers have set up shop near the bus stops and paved plazas. The market is my favorite place in Porto Alegre, reminiscent of the city's origins as a port and trade post while incorporating the gaucho lifestyle and modern downtown atmosphere. It is colorful, alive, and infinitely rich in photographic potential.

A block from the market is a building that has been abandoned since it was under construction. It is over 15 stories tall and in the heart of downtown but was never completed so it has been taken over by squatters. They have installed windows, power, television antennas, clotheslines, stores, and all the spontaneous parts of most favelas inside the building's skeleton. Here are a few pictures:

Images of Rio Grande

2009-01-19T15:46:00.004-05:00

The city of Rio Grande is in the souteast tip of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is home to the second largest port in Brazil, behind Santos. It has just been given an enormous investment by the government to expand the superport. With the speculated tripling of the port, the housing market in the city has boomed, although in the very lowest class of dwellings. The city contrasts a rich tradition of colonial and eclectic Portuguese architecture with the gritty industrialized superport development. Here are images from the downtown area, the housing projects in the outskirts, and the summer beach town next door.

Images of Aceguá

2009-01-19T13:10:00.006-05:00

Aceguá is the city I intend on using as my project site. It has lived off its position on the Brazilian-Uruguay border and has recently been granted a free trade zone. I was surprised to find that the city had not changed much since the first time I passed through three years ago. I was also surprised to find an elaborate, albeit meager, contraband operation dealing Brazilian produce into Uruguay. My cameras called attention to the popcorn vendor, who happened to be a look-out, and he eventually interrogated me about my presence there. I played the dumb tourist, but still left rather fast with all my incriminating photage.

On the way back to Bagé, we passed through a German colony between the two cities called Colonia Nova. It was established as a cooperative in the 1950s by German immigrants producing dairy goods. I will post more information on the co-op later.

Images of Santana do Livramento and Rivera

2009-01-18T21:03:00.003-05:00

Pictures from the border city of Santana do Livramento, Brazil, and Rivera, Uruguay. Essentially the city has developed along its border driven by a free trade zone. The dividing avenue is a site for informal shops and a variety of goods, generally aimed at the lower class. The streets off that avenue house several duty free shops aimed at the middle and upper classes.

Images of Bagé

2009-01-18T20:33:00.004-05:00

A slideshow of my explorations in Bagé on Christmas day. It is the city in the Pampas that I am most familiar with and a short(ish) distance from the border sites I am researching.

Procession of Goods

2008-12-10T19:46:00.008-05:00

In searching for a program, I have observed a gap in the ideal distribution and urbanization of a region. Despite plentiful land in most regions of Brazil and Latin America, the regional distribution infrastructure is overly dependent on truck traffic, due to a lack of railroads or alternative methods, and far too independent from the small population centers since they are destinations for goods and consumption instead of production centers supplying larger urban centers with goods. There should not be a radial procession of goods, but rather a gradient one.

Present Regional Distribution of Goods in Brazil

Proposed Distribution of Goods through Development of Rural Nuclei

Notes on Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander

2008-12-08T23:58:00.002-05:00

A great resource for the analysis of form making, Christopher Alexander has written Notes of the Synthesis of Form (1964) and A Pattern Language (1977), both which have given me insight on how I will design something from my socioeconomic and cultural research.

NPR Interview with Alexander
Real Media Windows Media Player

"Christopher Alexander's Nature of Order" by Jennifer Ludden
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4469331

Notes on Notes on the Synthesis of Form

From the offset of my search for a solution to rural development problems, I have sought a humanist point of view about the individual’s ability to control his or her destiny with the least intrusion by my product. At the root of my objective to avoid meddling in the decisions of an individual is the balance between interpreting a situation that I am not the most familiar and using education to facilitate its solution.

“What does make design a problem in real world cases is that we are trying to make a diagram for forces whose field we do not understand.” (p. 21)

We are led to believe that academic research can educate us about all that is necessary to solve problems like the rural exodus and poor living standards for the lower classes while making beautiful places. Yet, there are far too many minute and personal complexities that will inevitably fall through the cracks of the filter with which the designer makes form.

“I shall call a culture self-conscious if its form-making is taught academically, according to explicit rules.” (p. 36)

In a developing world that is transitioning from vernacular methods of Alexander’s unselfconscious process to the first world’s individualistic inclination, the relationship between the designer and dweller (regardless if they are the same or different persons). Specifically in Latin America, the ideals of individualistic societies of the Western World are particularly and deeply rooted in the community developments and form-making process of its societies. In the grazing lands of the Pampas, the gaucho perhaps epitomizes the idea of the rugged individual conquering the land and creating space with his bare hands from scratch – much like the North American cowboy of the Manifest Destiny. From this nearly anarchical process of land claims has come one of the strongest and most stubborn cultures of independent life and self-empowerment.

“The form-maker’s assertion of his individuality is an important feature of self-consciousness.” (p. 57)

Regionalist theory bred by Bernard Rudofsky, Hassan Fathy, and Amos Rapoport has concentrated on the vernacular approaches to building dwellings and the interactions between them that are integral to the form-creating strategy of a particular structure.

“We know by definition that building skills are learned informally, without the help of formulated rules.” (p. 46)

Alexander points out the formalization of form-making as a creation of a self-involved cycle of academic study that may trickle down eventually to the vernacular of a place, although it is in reality more likely to cling to high-style design instead.

“The academies are formed. As the academies develop, the unformulated precepts of tradition give way to clearly formulated concepts whose very formulation invites criticism and debate.” (p. 58)

It is inevitable that the educated elite formalizes the design process to the extent that it becomes intellectual masturbation with few tangible results. The “criticism and debate” in the academic circles rarely trickles down far enough to reach the individual home builder-dweller. Hassan Fathy was one of the first to experiment with passing on information to the individual in an attempt to join the experience of vernacular form-making and technical training of an architect. He suffered far many more difficulties than he could have imagined, as he made clear in his book. He was not greeted as a messiah of design but instead with much resistance. In broad studies of societal development, regionalist theory has prioritized the human aspect of a man’s connection with the material construction of his property.

“Closely associated with this immediacy is the fact that the owner is his own builder, that the form-maker not only makes the form but lives in it. Indeed…there is a special closeness of contact between man and form which leads to constant rearrangement of unsatisfactory detail, constant improvement.” (p. 49)

Vinicius de Moraes and Chico Buarque wrote a song in 1969 about the humble people that are Brazil’s lower class. They are portrayed as a people, a community that defines the identity of its individuals, a societal structure losing its influence in most of the developing world as access and wealth bring with it more power to consumption, financial and material growth, and pride. The studies of regional architecture concentrate on the small or individual increments of design improvements, but in fact observe the process of individual design as only a step in a societal evolution of form. Alexander talks about individual pride of design as something essential to architects but that has become a part of every person in self-conscious societies.

“In present design practice, this critical step, during which the problem is prepared and translated into design, always depends on some kind of intuition.” (p. 77)

Pride brings with it confidence and with that an individual takes more assurance in intuition. Perhaps the intuition of form making is actually the informal education of vernacular building techniques, but there is an interesting and charming amount of pride that comes with arbitrary design decisions. The gaucho raises his own cattle, pours his own mate, builds his own house, and makes his own decisions about every aspect of his life. He wants no interference from a “design-expert” because they are not experts of the gaucho’s life.

“Each form is now seen as the work of a single man, and its success is his achievement only.” (p. 59)

As a stubborn gaucho myself, the unwritten rules of our people include never interfering in a man’s life unless one is called upon for help since we are all brothers, otherwise we are risking a brisk knifing (verbal or literal). I am also part of the intellectual elite and have a very unstable place in determining form making in the pampas. In this situation Johan Van Lengen may have found the most effective strategy to implement education to the people at need with his book The Barefoot Architect. His book was first published in Mexico in 1982 and was distributed to thousands of public libraries to provide locals with a manual for basic construction techniques.
Alexander goes into depth in the second half of Notes on the Synthesis of Form about diagrams and process of design in regards to the communication of form design and form making.

“We shall call a diagram constructive if and only if it is both at once – if and only if it is a requirement diagram and a form diagram at the same time.” (p. 87)

In my proposal to establish a village of small agricultural workers through self-help processes, the power of suggestion through visual communication and the providing of access are the primary advantages of the professional to provide help to the individual in his building of a home, workplace, and income source.

“…the building of a house is a ceremonial occasion.” (p.47)

The education and preparation of the individual to begin the building of a house are the first phases of the ceremony. The access and to information from a simple pamphlet or manual can significantly improve and facilitate the design and construction of incrementally built structures that will provide for the small businesses of the rural developing world. The principles of Van Lengen’s book can be edited and extrapolated to capitalize on a specific site’s opportunities and eccentricities. In essence, access gives the individual the power to incrementally solve his design problems to satisfy his needs as he and only he sees fit.

Gente Humilde

2008-12-08T21:28:00.009-05:00

A song by Chico Buarque and Vinicius de Moraes of the humble people of Brazil

Tem certos dias
Em que eu penso em minha gente
E sinto assim
Todo o meu peito se apertar
Porque parece
Que acontece de repente
Feito um desejo de eu viver
Sem me notar
Igual a como
Quando eu passo no subúrbio
Eu muito bem
Vindo de trem de algum lugar
E aí me dá
Como uma inveja dessa gente
Que vai em frente
Sem nem ter com quem contar

São casas simples
Com cadeiras na calçada
E na fachada
Escrito em cima que é um lar
Pela varanda
Flores tristes e baldias
Como a alegria
Que não tem onde encostar
E aí me dá uma tristeza
No meu peito
Feito um despeito
De eu não ter como lutar
E eu que não creio
Peço a Deus por minha gente
É gente humilde
Que vontade de chorar

There are certain days
When I think of my people
And I feel like
All of my chest tightens
Because it seems
That it happens suddenly
Like a desire to live
Without being noticed
Just like
When I pass by the subburb
Myself very well
Coming by train from somewhere
And then I get
Like an envy of these people
Who go along
With no one to hold on to

They’re simple houses
With chairs on the sidewalk
And on the façade
Written above that it’s a home
On the veranda
Sad flowers and pots
Like a happiness
That has no place to lean
And then I get a sadness
In my chest
Like a disappointment
That I have no way to fight
And I that don’t believe
Ask to God for my people
They’re humble people
What a longing to cry

"Gente Humilde" by Chico Buarque and Vinicius de Moraes

1969 © by Cara Nova Editora Musical Ltda. Av. Rebouças, 1700

Disney's Pampas

2008-12-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

In the 1940s, Walt Disney released several short films and cartoons of travels through South America packaged as Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944). Through the two movies, Disney portrayed pieces of the pampas and life in the Platine regions of South America. Here are some clips from those movies. Please email me if the clips are taken off the server.

The Argentine Pampas

Goofy the Gaucho

Stereotypical Rio

Role of the Architect in Development

2008-11-25T16:59:00.001-05:00

Program Sketches

2008-11-20T14:22:00.000-05:00

My search for a program is narrowing down, as might have been evident in my rant on the public market of Bage. The idea of a workers villa, or co-op, still is on the top of the priorities. The development of the village patterns around a raison d'etre is what I must develop more in depth.

Precedents #3

2008-11-19T19:19:00.001-05:00

Bing Thom Architects
Central City, Surrey, BC
http://www.bingthomarchitects.com/

Frank Gehry
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London
http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2008/02/serpentine_gallery_pavilion_20_9.html
http://photodelusions.wordpress.com/category/out-and-about/london/serpentine-gallery/serpentine-pavilion-2008/

The Pentagon's New Map

2008-11-19T18:39:00.000-05:00

In my search for world maps and the global situation of development, I came about Thomas P.M. Barnett's The Pentagon's New Map. In his web site http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/, he talks about the risks of Brazil and Argentina:

3) BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA Both on the bubble between the Gap and the Functioning Core. Both played the globalization game to hilt in nineties and both feel abused now. The danger of falling off the wagon and going self-destructively leftist or rightist is very real. • No military threats to speak of, except against their own democracies (the return of the generals). • South American alliance MERCOSUR tries to carve out its own reality while Washington pushes Free Trade of Americas, but we may have to settle for agreements with Chile or for pulling only Chile into bigger NAFTA. Will Brazil and Argentina force themselves to be left out and then resent it? • Amazon a large ungovernable area for Brazil, plus all that environmental damage continues to pile up. Will the world eventually care enough to step in?

Here is his map (by William McNulty), that delineates the "functioning core" and "non-integrated gap" zones of the world.

In reference to the Amazon, he fact that a country cannot manage its own territory is insulting, regardless of the fact that the administration of the Amazon really is out of control. The way he presents it is reminiscent of the fiasco from about seven years ago when a textbook mapped the Amazon as an international zone. Help is of course welcome, but in non military or territorial means.

The first question referring to the Mercosul, FTA, and NAFTA is valid. South America is divided into two drifting pieces, the leftist underdeveloped northwest and the more developed south. Columbia is an exception in the northwest, so much so that it has negociated with NAFTA more than any other country in South America. Peru is perhaps the country I've seen the most micro-investment headway.

Taking the "non-intergrated gap" map from Barnett's book and coupling it with general regions of high productivity in the continent, the Pampas is evidently the shaft of land that seems to be linking the two "functioning cores" of South America. Considering the richness of the location of the Fronteira (Brazil-Uruguay border region), it is impossible to assume that no development will occur in this region, and it is obviously lacking proper administration since it is sitting between the richest zones of the continent.

Follow-up on "What I can learn from Wal-Mart..."

2008-11-16T00:28:00.001-05:00

On September 23, 2008, I posted "What I Can Learn from Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and other giants", commenting on the financial potential of the lower class consumption power and the shift in target groups for business in a world becoming increasingly driven by all classes and the developing world.
In the offset of the downward spiral of the global recession of this year, I postulated that companies like Wal-Mart and Carrefour are strategically organized to thrive in hard times because of their target market.

On November 13, 2008, my postulation was reinforced by Wal-Mart's third quarter earnings, with the company profits rising 10% while other companies sank. Here is an article from the AP on the matter.

"Wal-Mart's quarterly profit rises 10 percent"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27696162/

The Tragic Story of the Public Market of Bagé

2008-11-14T02:05:00.000-05:00

In searching for a program, I looked into the historic patterns of development in Latin America, particularly in the Pampas of Rio Grande do Sul.
The Laws of the Indies established a skeleton for town development in Spanish colonized areas from the 16th to 18th century. Its most notable point was a regular block grid grown from a central open space enclosed by a church, a governmental building, and a public market in most complete cases. The nuclear nature of the cities' souls in these regions are still very evident today and provide many cities with beautiful characteristic and vital spaces.
In the case of Bagé, I am personally affected by the history of these spaces. The city developed around two main public squares - the colonial square flanked by the onion-domed cathedral, and the newer square originally flanked by the public market built in 1862 (as pictured below). My grandfather moved from Brummana, Lebanon, to Bagé in 1935 and opened a textile shop in one of the doors of the public market. Eventually he moved his store to the north side of the square out of the market. In 1953, the city, under Mayor Carlos Kluwe, decided to demolish the market citing the need for the city to grow and the lack of funds for the municipal government. In the place of the market were built a hotel and an office building, while a third building was never fully finished, rebar and all still exposed. The last vestige of the market is the street corner clock, pitifully dominated by a 1960s hotel building.

Mercado Publico de Bagé, circa 1948

Site of the Mercado Publico, 2007

Patterns of the Pampas

2008-11-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

In looking through aerials of the Pampas and examining how the cities meet the landscape meet agriculture, I began to find some mesmerizing patterns of land use. Here are a few frames at the same scales:

And here is a frame of the area that I am interest in working in. The land is far less touched, but also far less dynamic.

Here are four different situations, at equal scales, of the city edge meeting the rural landscape

Get to Know a State

2008-11-10T16:43:00.000-05:00

The diagram below generally maps out the land uses and reasons for being of the different regions of the southern half of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The dark black border is the boundary between Uruguay and Brazil.

Below is a scale comparison of the state of Rio Grande do Sul overlaid on the Bos-Wash megalopolis. The state is large enough to capture Richmond to New York City to Pittsburg to Buffalo and everything in between.

Here is another scale comparison encompassing most of the major Italian cities.

Targets of Development

2008-11-05T17:28:00.000-05:00

This is a set of diagrams translated from Victor Pelli's book Habitar, Participar, Pertenecer. They compare two strategies in creating targets for development in socioeconomic levels, primarily in developing countries. I am interested in developing the second proposal as an alternative to the singular target convention of the first diagram.

The incremental approach is more adapt to my architectural and tectonic goals of my thesis. The possibility of individuals gradually and independently improving their living conditions is the ultimate target for my research.

Nota para arquitectos

2008-11-05T16:31:00.000-05:00

...si bien puede ser discutible si es o no es Arquitectura lo que se construye y lo que se hace para resolver la pobreza habitacional, en la forma en que se plantea el problema en nuestros paises, de lo que no hay dudas es que en este trabajo hacen falta arquitectos.

La discusion sobre si el producto es o no es Arquitectura puede quedar para momentos mas distendidos, mientras se sigue trabajando.

[...it may very well be debatable if Architecture is or is not what is built and what is done to resolve habitational poverty, in the form that the problem is planted in our countries, in which there is doubtlessly a lack of arquitects.

The discussion as to whether the product is Architecture or not can fall to more prolonged times, meanwhile, the work continues.]

Victor Pelli, 1990

Precedents #2

2008-10-29T01:09:00.000-04:00

39571 Project, DeLisle, Mississippi - SHoP Architects
http://www.dwell.com/peopleplaces/profiles/7501232.html

Deboer Recent Projects
http://deboerarchitects.com/

Bamboo!

2008-10-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

I met with local DC architect Meghan Walsh, AIA, last Saturday after blindly contacting her when I saw her name in the Feminist Practices exhibit at the Kibel Gallery at school. Her board displayed work she has done with her organization Axis Mundi in Brazil. In the short meeting she gave me great recommendations about where to look for tectonic approaches to resolving my project.

Bamboo and eucaliptus are two materials with plenty of promise and here are some big names in the field of bamboo and alternative materials construction:

Johan Van Lengen - Tibarose
http://tibarose.com

Simon Velez and DeBoer Architects - Bamboo Thoughts
http://deboerarchitects.com/BambooThoughts.html

Martin Coto Gomez
http://www.bambuesworks.com/index.htm

New Bamboo By Marcelo Villegas, Benjamín Villegas Jiménez, Ximena Londoño, Jimmy Weiskopf, Villegas Asociados
Google Book Preview

Images from New Bamboo

Entitlement and Anarchy

2008-10-17T02:31:00.000-04:00

“Bang for the buck” is at the core of all economic decisions. It is also at the core of economic and ethical philanthropic decisions. One maj or discussion has developed in the recent years among the upper crust of deep-pocketed intellectuals about the access to computer technology to the very poor in places such as Africa and South Asia. On one side were the money pumpers – the likes of Larry Ellison proposing that the cheaper the computer the more access to more people. The opposition from the idealists, head by Bill Gates, proposed that it was not enough to provide just any computer; the poor deserve the best that technology has to offer as well. It is hard to decide whether this debate is more analogous to a teenager buying a $500 first car to get on the road or the Seinfeld muffin top fiasco where the homeless demand the entire muffins be donated, not just the bottom halves.

In development plans for the poorer regions of the world the consensual approach has usually been aligned with the “better than nothing” ideology where the rich give what they can find and the poor get what they can grab. The standards of micro-lending have embraced this ideology, assuming that the bare minimum is enough to kick-start the small entrepreneur’s financial growth. Perhaps the strongest argument against Grameen Bank’s involvement in Bangladeshi development has been its haphazard distribution of land through small loan purchases. The incremental purchasing of lands moving away from the central cities of Bangladesh and other developing countries has been bla med for the rapid urban sprawl taking over rural areas. For countries whose populations are still in the transitional phase of rapid growth due to high birth rates and low death rates low density suburban development is not an efficient or sustainable pattern of development. There is a need for some level of master planning when it comes to providing people homes and ways of life through development. The implementation of an overseeing organization is ethically problematic though, since it conflicts with the idea of the small entrepreneur having full liberty about how to invest in business, land, and construction. In the general structure of micro-credit, the loan is not pending a particular direction in investment.

Argentine architect Victor Pelli presents a dilemma to begin his book, Habitar, Participar, Pertenecer – how does a designer balance the necessities of the individual with the satisfaction of social standards? He proposes no earth-shattering solution in his book other than reason and sensibility. He emphasizes the effectiveness of individualized attention, small-scale studies and projects, and the assumption that no one knows better than oneself what one needs. As a designer himself, he reminds the all too often omnipotent educated designers that they must provide a service to those in need, not indoctrinate them and force them into our idealizations of what their lives should be.

Google Earth Links

2008-10-08T20:58:00.001-04:00

Here are some *.kml links straight into Google Earth to the areas that I am pursuing my work. Click on the city name to be taken to an aerial view of the area in Google Earth.

Bagé, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
City of about 100,000 inhabitants, a commercial hub for the pampas region less than an hour drive from the Uruguay border at Acegua.

Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Capital city of the state, metropolitan area of about 4 million. It is the fourth largest city in Brazil and the southernmost major city.

Site Presentation

2008-10-05T22:21:00.000-04:00

Here is a slideshow of my site presentation for class. It by no means defines my site, but it should give a good overview of the region in which I plan on working.

View map of the pictures on GoogleMaps

Noman Kindergarten

2008-10-05T22:11:00.000-04:00

This is a video of a school funded by the private hands of my friend's mother in a northern province of Bangladesh. I am posting this video to display a model of what private money well placed can produce.

Structuring the Microcredits of Development

2008-09-24T19:41:00.001-04:00

This first tree is a general overview of the standard micro-credit loan process followed by most organizations along the Grameen Bank philosophy. This structure has proven extremely effective but is not specific to any developmental strategy.

This second diagram is my initial proposal for a micro-development process that is sparked by an architect's initiative and produces financial and personal growth for the borrower as well as profits for the investor architect.

Eudaimonia and Humanism in Development

2008-09-24T01:56:00.000-04:00

Two themes that I intend to carry through my thesis research and design.

Humanism:

All member organisations of the International Humanist and Ethical Union are required by IHEU bylaw 5.1 to accept the IHEU Minimum Statement on Humanism:
Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.

Eudaimonia:

Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) is a classical Greek word commonly translated as 'happiness'. Etymologically, it consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimon"("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Although popular usage of the term happiness refers to a state of mind, related to joy or pleasure, eudaimonia rarely has such connotations, and the less subjective "human flourishing" is often preferred as a translation.

What I can learn from Carrefour, Wal-Mart, and other giants

2008-09-23T22:46:00.000-04:00

Everyone hates giant hypermarkets. Middle upper class and upper class hate giant hypermarkets. They hate hypermarkets that aren't Target. They hate hypermarkets because they destroy the local businesses, the small mom-and-pop shops that are left without means to fairly compete. Yet, there are plenty of business lessons to be learned from these dark empires - lessons that can be translated into good.

There is something to be said about two of the largest businesses in the world consistently making profits while left and right there are investment companies breaking down when their sole raison d’être is to find means of making money. If their customers were well-off individual investors with surplus money and the companies themselves were investors with their collective surplus one would think it would be much easier to muster a profit with all that exra transitional money instead of selling low-priced goods to the lower and middle classes 99 cents at a time.

Observing the trend in the past ten years between the DOW Jones, Wal-Mart (top), AIG (bottom), there seems to be a lopsided success on Wal-Mart's side when compared to the general market without any predictions of a devastating crash.

Its strange to think so much time and effort goes into market research in so many businesses. They worry that recessions and economic fluctuations will create variations in the sizes of their markets and their consumption power. These markets are often soccer moms, teenagers, retiring baby boomers, and so on. How are these market researchers so narrow minded to miss the largest and most consistent market in the world - the lower half. Sociologists emphasize the fact that the poorer half of the world is consistently lacking in every possible aspect of life quality. They are too often considered non-productive and non-consuming heads in an unresolvable misery. This stance dismisses the basic belief that people are created equally and hold unlimited potential to grow as contributors to society. The poor do not need charity, they need access. They do not need free material goods, they need a means to produce and purchase those goods themselves. Wal-Mart and Carrefour provide the access and low prices to the upper crust of the poorer half, those who have reached the point of making purchases of minimal luxury. Their market base will not disappear anytime soon. If anything it will only grow throughout developing areas. It is no coincidence that Carrefour's largest market after its home in France is Brazil. The lower class is a consistent and powerful share of the market. They are increasingly more demanding and more economically decisive as they become more empowered. Therefore, they are also a safe and stable consumer basesince they are the most accurate followers of the "invisible hand" of Keynesian economic theory. Their money is almost entirely rooted in production as opposed to the middlemen of service that consume profits from the transaction of money, money that is more availavle in good times than bad. The labor intensive lower class is still the base of the economy and will always consume.

There is so little confidence in the blue collar worker, the informal businessmen, the "uneducated", yet they are the most adaptive and innovative class in our societies. Rarely will we see a laid-off accountant stoop down to work at the supermarket or sell hot dogs on a corner. They have financial fat to burn and will burn it beyond their means, into debt and terrible business decisions. They have too much pride.

The unspecialized worker will find a job somewhere somehow. He will find a way to survive - he has no time for pride, which shamefully leaves him at the hands of exploitation. He must be empowered to create his own way of life from scratch, to blossom into a small-scale businessman with his footprint on his land and his society. This is the point at which architects and developers participate in a business model that will benefit both sides. The investors shift their loaning strategy to a much smaller scale where the consumer is the resident or owner of the new modest dwelling and will only be considered productive once their way of life is established with the minimal infrastructure provided by the builder. They do not have any credit until they have already received the loan and building and will repay their debt once their business picks up. Architects are responsible for creating the most efficient and appropriate dwellings for the individuals and their growing communities. Ideally the architect is the banker, their surplus from larger projects in richer areas can fuel the banking of the small projects. The architect can more than ethically charge interest for the loan, charge for the design, and profit from the exposure in a developing area as a sensitive and competent designer and builder. An investment model along these lines is a viable proposal for the future of development and urbanization in the developing world as well as poorer areas of the developed world. It is not a new model by any means, if anything it is reverting to the principles of the construction business with a conscious and competent designer as its central catalyst.

Robert Neuwirth's "Shadow Cities"

2008-09-16T20:12:00.000-04:00

A TED talk by a somewhat pushy and dramatic journalist, but still a good overview of the future of cities and their slums.

Precedents #1

2008-09-15T18:54:00.000-04:00

Villa Eila - Heikkinen and Komonen (1993)
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=4380
http://www.personal.psu.edu/cad5033/villa%20eila.htm

Estudio Teddy Cruz
http://www.world-architects.com/index.php?seite=ca_profile_architekten_detail_us&system_id=14396
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/arts/design/19hous.html

Thesis Abstract

2008-09-10T16:58:00.000-04:00

This is the abstract submitted for my thesis research for my Master in Architecture degree.

Thesis Match Poster

2008-09-07T18:58:00.000-04:00

World Bank Projects to Look At

2008-08-08T22:14:00.000-04:00

At the suggestion of KDP from our initial meetings, I looked at World Bank and IMF programs in the areas of Brazil that I might be interested in pursuing research to see if there is any overlap. Here are some links that I found so far.

Bage - RS Integrated Municipal Development Program
http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P111511

Uruguaiana - RS Integrated Municipal Development Program
http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P111514

Pelotas - RS Integrated Municipal Development Program
http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P094199

Rio Grande do Sul Fiscal Sustainability
http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P106767

Brazil: First Programmatic Loan for Sustainable and Equitable Growth
http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P080827

Instituto Nacional de Colonizacao e Reforma Agraria
http://www.incra.gov.br/

Starting Off

2008-07-01T19:00:00.000-04:00

This is it. I’m starting my thesis research and the wonderful journey that comes with it.

Here’s my plan:

I’ll keep this blog as my journal for my research, where I can keep all the good stuff I need to finish it up when I’m going through the design phase. The hard part will be remembering to keep it up...