ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY Architectural Design Approaches of Hassan Fathy and YB Mangunwijaya
ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK
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“Everyone, rich or poor…deserves a shelter for the soul” Samuel Mockbee, Architecture of Decency, 2004
INTRODUCTION
This study presents the architectural approaches of the two most important figures in the built environment that championed a generation of creative design carried out in the service of the greater public and humanity. Their theoretical, philosophical and design praxis has expanded architectural design as an active social activism, and has been regarded as remarkably important and generative. It is an honor for us to analyze and present the architectural design methodologies of both the late Hassan Fathy and the late YB Mangunwijaya . We hope this study will benefit in the betterment of architectural knowledge and the built environment.
OBJECTIVES
1.
To analyze and understand the thinking and theoretical approaches of both architects.
2.
To learn from their past experiences of exemplary works, and try to abstract their approaches in order to create a more reflexive and responsive design methods in our academic progression and experience.
3.
To outline the similarities and differences of their approaches in responding to architectural and contextual needs.
4.
To understand the established mechanism of design and implementation process of these two great architects.
ARCHITECTS’ BACKGROUND
HASSAN FATHY (Alexandria, Egypt, 23 March 1900 - Cairo, Egypt, 30 November 1989)
Education: • University of Cairo, Egypt (1926) Professional Activities: • Architect/ Engineer • Writer • Lecturer • Musician and Dramatist Teaching Experiences: • University of Cairo, Egypt Other Affiliations/ Activities: • Steering Committee, Aga Khan Award for Architecture • Founder of Institute of Appropriate Technology • Member of the High Council of Arts and Letters, Egypt • Honorary Fellow, American Research Centre, Egypt • Honorary Fellow, American Institute of Architecture Source: wikipedia.org
WORKS BY HASSAN FATHY
Hassan Fathy is noted for pioneering the use of appropriate technology for building in Egypt. His works mostly reestablish the use of adobe/ mud brick and other traditional system as opposed to Western’s concepts and systems. Fathy has build more than 100 projects both in his hometown, Egypt as well as internationally. Some of his most important architectural works are: 1. New Gourna Village, Egypt 2. Arab Refugee Housing, Palestine 3. Hamdi Seif al-Nasr House, Egypt 4. Iraq Housing Programme, Iraq 5. New Baris Village, Egypt 6. Nile Festival Village, Egypt 7. Polk House, USA 8. Roxbury Mosque, USA 9. Sudan Conference Centre and Mosque, Sudan 10. Wehda Mosque and Islamic Centre, Egypt Fathy’s experience in designing and building the New Gourna Village extended his effort in building for the poor by publishing a very influential book titled Architecture For The Poor (1973). Fathy also serve as a delegated consultant for the United Nations Refugee World Assistance, as well as consultant for other institutions and international aid agencies.
AWARDS RECEIVED BY HASSAN FATHY
1959 Encouragement Prize for Fine Arts and Gold Medal
1980 Chairman’s Award, Aga Khan Award for Architecture
1980 Right Livelihood Award
1967 National Prize for Fine Arts and Republic Decoration
1984 Gold Medal for Union Internationale des Architectes 1980 Balzan Prize for Architecture and Urban Planning
Project Name: New Gourna Village, Egypt Project Type: Housing Development, New Town Planning Usage: Residential, Urban Design and Development
The idea for the village was launched by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities as a potentially cost-effective solution to the problem of relocating an entire entrenched community of entrepreneurial excavators that had established itself over the royal necropolis in Luxor, Egypt. The Village was meant to be a prototype but rather than subscribing to the current idea of using a limited number of unit types, Fathy took the unprecedented approach of seeking to satisfy the individual needs of each family in the design.
In his book Architecture For The Poor, Fathy justified his decision to build each houses in New Gourna unique and different by quoting; “In nature, no two men are alike. Even if they are twins and physically identical, they will differ in their dreams. The architecture of the house emerges from the dream; this is why in villages built by their inhabitants we will find no two houses identical”.
Source: Architecture For The Poor, 1973
Source: archnet.org
ARCHITECTS’ BACKGROUND
YUSUF BILYARTA MANGUNWIJAYA (Ambarawa, Central Java, 6 May 1929 - Jakarta,Indonesia, 10 February 1999)
Education: • Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia (1959) • Rheinisch Westfaelische Technische Hochschule, Germany (1960-1966) • Fellow Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, USA (1978) Professional Activities: • Architect • Writer • Catholic Religious Leader • Lecturer/ Teacher Teaching Experiences: • Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia • Initiated the Elementary Education Dynamics Foundation for SD Kanisius Mangunan, Indonesia Other Affiliations/ Activities: • Humanitarian Activist
Source: wikipedia.org
WORKS BY YB MANGUNWIJAYA
Mangunwijaya has always been regarded as Indonesia’s Father of Modern Architecture and his interests and works were mainly associated with his sympathy towards the poor and marginal community as well as religious building complexes. Some of his most important architectural works are: 1. Pemukiman Warga Tepi Kali Chode, Yogyakarta 2. Kompleks Religi Sendangsono, Yogyakarta 3. Gedung Keuskupan Agung Semarang 4. Gedung Bentara Budaya, Jakarta 5. Gereja Katolik Jetis, Yogyakarta 6. Gereja Katolik Cilincing, Jakarta 7. Markas Kowihan II 8. Biara Trappist Gedono, Salatiga, Semarang 9. Gereja Maria Assumpta, Klaten 10. Gereja Maria Sapta Duka, Mendut Mangunwijaya was also the author of numerous literary works, architectural books and journals, religious books and was an active writer on social critic issues. His most important literary fiction is Burung-Burung Manyar.
AWARDS RECEIVED BY YB MANGUNWIJAYA
1975 Radio Nederland ‘s Golden Windmill Award for fiction literature
1991 Golden Indonesian Institute of Architect Award for Marian Shrine in Sendangsono
1992 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Cooperative Housing for Slum Dwellers of Kali Chode
1996 Ramon Magsaysay Award for the literary fiction Burung-Burung Manyar
1995 Ruth and Ralph Erskine Award for Cooperative Housing for Slum Dwellers of Kali Chode
Source: archnet.org
Laid between two important rivers, this village started out as illegal squatters that explains the location below the highway bridge and its proximity to the river. Burnt down year after year by the local government so as to discourage these squatters from ‘breeding’ illegally here, the community still held strong and with the help from Mangunwijaya, who encouraged and inspired the people to legalized and build this settlement from waste materials.
“The problem of the poor inhabitants of the Chode-Riverside was evidently not architecture, but, as I gradually learned from them, how to minimize their inferiority feelings - the common feelings of people that were rejected and abandoned; the everyday feelings of people that lived with permanent fear of being swept away one day by the capitalistic policies of development and modernization.” YB Mangunwijaya’s speech in accepting the Ruth and Ralph Erskine Award Sweden, 1995
Source: Swedish Association of Architects
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
Both Hassan Fathy and Mangunwijaya are best known for their active role in developing and implementing humanitarian approaches in their architectural polemic theories. We will outline their theories in order to learn and understand them in an analytical comparative way.
YB MANGUNWIJAYA
HASSAN FATHY
“jeritan suara hati nurani masyarakat”
“architecture for the poor”
A collective approach in problem solving is seen as the most appropriate way in helping the poor and marginalized community
Answers to today’s problem in the world of built environment are to response to each unique humans’ dream and reality
Theology of Liberation and Contextualized Approaches
Traditionalist - Innovative Approach
local conditions (community participation)
innovation and creativity
local traditions (community participation)
appropriation in innovation
Source: Menuju Kampung Pemerdekaan, 2002
THEORETICAL APPROACHES YB MANGUNWIJAYA
HASSAN FATHY
Universal Humanism
spiritual beliefs
Traditionalist
socio-cultural
socio-cultural
Material Values
sense
recycle-use
modesty
Material Values
locality
locality
modesty
Unique Characteristics
pride
poverty = ugly
appropriation of technology
plasticity
form-value
Unique Characteristcs
non-standard
non-standard
unique aspiration
THEORETICAL APPROACHES YB MANGUNWIJAYA
HASSAN FATHY
Cross-Collaboration Practice:
Cross-Collaboration Practice:
Social Knowledge
artists
NGOs
technicians
sociologists writers, poets, journalists
religious movements
anthropologists
economists
THEORETICAL APPROACHES YB MANGUNWIJAYA Function of the Architect:
Function of the Architect:
“ARCHITECT AS SOCIAL LEADER”
from societal point of view
from micro level; community development, capacity building
“ARCHITECT AS SOCIAL WORKER”
from communal point of view
HASSAN FATHY
from macro level; geographical, politicaleconomical, socio-cultural
“ARCHITECT AS SOCIAL LEADER”
from all level of intervention
REFERENCES 1. Fathy, H., Architecture For The Poor: an Experiment in Rural Egypt, University of Chicago Press, CA, 1973. 2. Khudori, D., Menuju Kampung Pemerdekaan, Yayasan Pondok Rakyat, Jakarta, 2002. 3. Bell, B. & Wakeford, K. (ed.), Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism, Metropolis Books, NY, 2008. 4. Frampton, K. (et al.), Modernity and Community: Architecture in the Islamic World, Aga Khan Awards for Architecture, Thames & Hudson, London, 2001. 5. Silas, J., The Kampung Improvement Programme of Indonesia, John Willey & Sons, NY, 1984 6. www.arkitekt.se/erskine 7. www.wikipedia.org 8. www.archnet.org
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