International, Online
VIRTUAL WORKSHOPs 2022
Workshop Length: 6 Weeks
Workshop Collaborators: Sher Maker, Social Design Collaborative, PALMA, Simple Architecture, Beyond The Box Consultants, Equipo de Arquitectura, A For Architecture, Nivasa, Jeevika Free, Potrero Digital, Shibu Raman, Maurice Mitchell,
Sustainable Development Targets Met:
This year’s Virtual Workshops ran simultaneously, following 2 briefs:
Vocational Skills Centre for Former Bonded Labourers in Karnataka, India
Digital School for Youth Living in Barrio 31, Argentina
The workshops gave participants a chance to contribute to a larger body of work which will continue to progress towards a sustainable solution to each design challenge.
Both workshops were structured around weekly themes with a series of guest speakers from around the world:
a: Developing and researching your brief (Q+A sessions from community members and local charity partners)
b: Other routes into practice (alternatives to the traditional architecture route, unique practitioners, etc.)
c: Building your team and effective community engagement (how to go from 'token participation' to 'full ownership', + how best to engage with non architects)
d: Maximising Your Impact (weaving the UN Sustainable Development Goals into the process and outcome of design and construction)
e: Design Considerations and Logistics (challenges and tools for working in international development)
f: Project Presentation and Communication (final refinements before online exhibition + taking the projects forward)
DESIGN BRIEF OPTION ONE
VOCATIONAL SKILLS CENTRE FOR FORMER BONDED LABOURERS IN INDIA
Work by Geonyeong Kim
Bonded Labour
Bonded labour is a form of labour arrangement whereby people are forced to work for long hours and for very little or no wages, without the freedom to seek any other employment until their debt is cleared.
These debts are often fabricated by the owner / slave master through a confusing system of loans that it is almost impossible to pay off. This debt is then passed down through the generations until it is paid off, thus bringing extremely young children into the poor working environment through no fault of their own. It is most prevalent in rural areas where the agricultural industry relies on local, contracted, and also migrant labourers.
Today, according to The Global Slavery Index, over 18 million people in India are estimated to be living in modern slavery.
The Jeevika Free Team
Work by Kristina Tayar
Jeevika Free
Jeevika Free is a charitable organisation based in Karnataka, India. Their charitable aim is to free bonded labourers by implementing the legal system, whilst raising awareness of the cause between existing labourers. Over the past 30 years they have freed more than 30,000 people from bonded labour.
Once freed the Jeevika team work to offer advice and self help classes, aiding the freed labourers with the transition into a stable life. They now want to do more to improve this transition and ensure fulfilling lives for those that they’ve helped. A training centre would provide predominantly young people with the chance to gain education as well as vocational skills in a bid to increase their future employment prospects.
The organisation currently has bases in all of the major areas of Karnataka, with the HD Kote centre being one of their most successful and active to date.
Work by Shahida Hoque
Design Brief
The participants were tasked with researching and designing a facility that provides accommodation and vocational skills training opportunities for up to 50 freed bonded labourers per cohort. The teaching programme will last for 1 year, easing freed bonded labourers into normal life and work beyond graduating from the centre. The participants were encouraged to interpret ‘vocational skills’ and ‘education’ based on their own research and from feedback in the community session.
Key spaces include: Classrooms, workshops, recreational spaces, living accommodation, offices, dining hall, storage.
Work by James Farrimond
Click through to see more about the individual proposals:
DESIGN BRIEF OPTION 2
DIGITAL SCHOOL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN BARRIO 31, ARGENTINA
Barrio 31
Work by Urmi Bari
Barrio Mugica (Barrio 31) covers 72 hectares of space with over 40,000 residents - making it larger than 65% of towns and cities in Argentina. The Barrio 31 initiative developed by the Buenos Aires city government uses an integrated approach that seeks to reduce poverty, improve the quality of life for residents and simultaneously lead the way for housing and urban change throughout Argentina. The strategy includes structural and impact measures to guarantee social, educational, health, economic and cultural rights of the population through participative and social work support strategies. Specifically, this includes the creation and improvement of infrastructure and equipment to expand the availability, access and quality of education and health benefits and promoting the sustainable economic development of the area.
Work by Ioanna Peponi
The City of Buenos Aires is developing the area underneath Au Pres. Arturo Umberto Illia - a large raised highway that runs through Barrio 31. There were around 1000 families living underneath the highway where the safety and hygiene standards for living were not met. The city has been going through the process of relocating all 1000 families and guaranteeing them a safe new home within Barrio 31. This new development is located in the nearby former container yard and includes roads, infrastructure and public spaces. It is informally called the YPF sector.
Potrero Digital
Work by Urmi Bari
This collaborative project brings together a number of different partners to fulfil the ambition of creating a digital school in Barrio 31, Buenos Aires. The digital school will be operated by Potrero Digital; a learning program that focuses on the integration, training and employability of people over 16 years old by bringing them closer to technology. With a curriculum centred on digital skills, their aim is to provide students with an education that will allow them to join a modernised labour force. Potrero Digital is supported by Fundación Compromiso, who have developed an inclusive model of scalability to bring Potrero Digital to more locations in the LATAM region and are helping to manage and expand the project.
Design Brief
Work by Ioanna Peponi
The Potrero Digital will have a primary function as a digital school with class sizes of 20 students. Staff members will include teachers as well as a coordinator. Students each have a laptop during class, with a desk. The building will require a dedicated classroom space with indirect natural light as well as a more flexible room that can be used for multiple functions. It will need to be suitable to use as an additional classroom as well as possible dance, music, drawing and painting lessons; workshops, meetings, etc. In addition the school will need a kitchen space, ideally adjacent to the large flexible room to cater for events and lunch breaks. Toilets and showers as well as lockable storage will be required, whilst an outdoor covered space would also be beneficial.
- Classroom
- Large flexible-use room - Kitchen
- Toilets and showers
- Outdoor covered area
Click through to see more about the individual proposals:
