Domus for Tbilisi Architecture Biennial 2020

What do We Have In Common Schools Virtual exhibition curated by Simona Bordone, Domus special projects

We have in common education all over the planet, not only because we are learning animals, but also because it is our society’s way to take care of the youngest. Also, where there are no schools. The topic of schools, not by chance, was so relevant after World War II that Domus dedicated an entire issue (number 220, June 1947) to a survey of schools. The pandemic brought us to a similar condition, where we feel uncertain and vulnerable. Every government is therefore defending the possibility for the students to attend school. We propose a selection of projects of the past, excerpts from Domus’ issues, and some recent ones. Some parallels can be seen through the lenses of some of the more advanced education architecture of the past, derived from pedagogy at the time, and the themes that architects are confronted with nowadays. The selection aims to give a glimpse on how Domus during seven decades published school buildings.

To be continued‌

Domus history Domus was founded in 1928 thanks to the efforts of the architect Gio Ponti who in 1929 was joined by the publisher Gianni Mazzocchi with Editoriale Domus, created especially to publish the magazine.

In 1976, Mazzocchi handed the company over to his daughter Maria Giovanna, the current publisher and president, and since then Domus has enacted an important strategy ensuring its vitality, prestige and longevity. The mandates of the editors-in-chief were shortened, even to just a few years, so as to guarantee a constantly fresh approach to contemporaneity. Domus was transformed from an auteur publication to a “magazine of authors”, nurturing its collection of prestigious names at the helm: Gio Ponti, Massimo Bontempelli, Giuseppe Pagano, Melchiorre Bega, Ernesto Nathan Rogers, Alessandro Mendini, Lisa Ponti, Mario Bellini, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, François Burkhardt, Deyan Sudjic, Stefano Boeri, Flavio Albanese, Joseph Grima, Nicola Di Battista, Michele De Lucchi, Winy Maas and in 2020 David Chipperfield. After almost 90 years, the monthly publication – and its web site www.domusweb.it – reaffirm the commitment to looking towards the future, confident more than ever in the best expertise. Entirely bilingual, the magazine is distributed in 89 countries and has developed co-editions in China, India, Sri Lanka, Korea. In 2016, Domus celebrated its 1000th issue, a milestone of almost 90 years of research, in-depth analysis, review and divulgation on all themes related to living.

The heart and history of Domus, the Archives are intrinsically linked to the magazine, guarding a vast documentary patrimony made up of material of different origin and nature used over the years for editorial publications.

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Domus - n° 220

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Domus - n° 220

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Domus 220, June 1947, editor Ernesto Nathan Rogers. This issue is entirely dedicated to schools, starting from the rural ones.

See also https://www.domusweb.it/en/events/istanbul-design-biennial/2018/09/08/domus220-xxx.html

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Domus - n° 220

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Domus - n° 220

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How do schools promote the gender equality?

A school for home economics

The article was originally published on Domus 222, September 1947

A concrete utopia in a historical Italian town 14/10/2020

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Domus - n° 364

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Domus - n° 364

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Domus 364, March 1960. Giancarlo De Carlo, Urbino University

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After the ‘60 students protest, dreams and failures of school architecture in Italy Italy in the 1970s: school architecture and its conceptual territory

Learning experiments 13/10/2020

Domus - n° 523

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Domus 523, June 1973

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«Do not build schools unless you plan for their reconversion», the quote by Ivan Ilich that opens the article 13/10/2020

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Domus 567, November 1977

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Breaking the lines 13/10/2020

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Domus 772, June 1995. Carme Pinós, Enric Miralles

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Do the poors have the right to education?

Does culture have borders?

Diébédo Francis Kéré, Clay-bound utopia Jungle Flower Library in China's Fujian province

Domus 1050, October 2020

Pratica / Quale futuro?

Practice / What next?

Taken as an example, the modest and experimental Arcadia Education Project allowed us to reflect on the appropriateness of simple yet innovative solutions, worked within limitations, but with a wider view to it becoming a model for pathways to the future. Complex issues require in-depth understanding. Issues become concerns, concerns in turn become challenges, and challenges require carefully worked-out strategies to overcome them. Eventually, strategies become actions whose success or failure is intertwined with our happiness and sorrows.

Architecture in its initial stage of work is framed by issues and concerns gradually guiding us towards solutions that are judged and tested over time.

The discussion of issues, concerns and challenges holds an important place in the evolution of architecture.

Dry Season (Nov.-Apr.)

May 27, 2015

June 16, 2015

June 21, 2015

August 29, 2015

September 8, 2015

Issues Of all the issues, the crisis of rapid global-warming-induced climate change has probably been the one most continuously talked-about over three decades.

The issue in its making has a history of over two centuries of human actions broadly intended to improve the quality of human life. It has given rise to many concerns. The issue and its related concerns are being addressed by the world under the leadership of the United Nations with charted-out plans and time frames.

On the other hand, the very recent issue of the Covid-19 pandemic has caught the world totally off guard, and is also of grave concern. Though primarily affecting health and well-being, it has caused great disruption to the prevalent way of life in almost every country in the world. Without the presence of digital technology, it would have been difficult to keep life operational to the extent that it is now.

Both issues have existential implications and are connected to human actions, and thereby also to architecture. While the universality of the concerns is well established, it is in the ways of addressing them that efforts must go hand in hand. Human settlements and architecture in all forms and scales are essential parts of these efforts.

©Saif Ul Haque Sthapati

Senza la tecnologia digitale la pandemia avrebbe causato sofferenze e disagi maggiori Without digital technology the pandemic would have caused more distress and disruption

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Opposite page. Top: the amphibious school by Saif Ul Haque during the wet season. Bottom: site plan showing the changing dry and flood conditions. The plot is submerged in up to 3 m of monsoon water for a third of the year.

This page: a classroom interior. “The project strives to elevate people’s lives, contributes to social and economic development and provides a pathway to solutions for the global issues of rising water levels and access to education in rural communities.”(Aga Khan Award for Architecture jury citation, 2019)

© Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Photo Sandro di Carlo Darsa

© Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Photo Hasan Saifuddin Chandan

A sinistra: la scuola anfibia di Saif Ul Haque durante la stagione delle piogge. In basso: schemi planimetrici che mostrano le mutevoli condizioni ambientali di siccità e alluvione. Il terreno è immerso fino a 3 m di acqua monsonica per un terzo dell’anno.

Pagina a fronte: l’interno di un’aula. “Il progetto si sforza di elevare la vita delle persone, contribuisce allo sviluppo sociale ed economico e fornisce un percorso per soluzioni ai problemi globali dell’innalzamento del livello dell’acqua e dell’accesso all’istruzione nelle comunità rurali” (dalla relazione della giuria dell’Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 2019)

Challenges Issues need deliberation and resolution, and concerns need mitigation. The magnitude of the mitigation task and the time frame for both climate change and the pandemic represent a huge challenge. Long and arduous negotiations led to the 2015 Paris Agreement and the continuation of the coordinated global effort in tackling the threat of climate change. Crucially, Article 2 reads: 1. This Agreement, in enhancing the implementation of the Convention, including its objective, aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, including by: (a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change; (b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production; and (c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

2. This Agreement will be implemented to reflect equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances.

The parties of the agreement are broadly classified as developed and developing countries, sharing the aims but with varying degrees of participation.

Significant progress has been made since 2015, but the efforts received a setback in August 2019 when the USA communicated its decision to withdraw from the agreement.

As for the Covid-19 pandemic, the rapidity of contagion required emergency measures to contain the spread. The development of a Covid-19 vaccine is considered a measure of protection from infection, but the impact on the way we live will require further measures. Though painful, the experience of the pandemic is sure to leave us with important lessons for the future.

Translating all the general aspects of the above into challenges for architecture is again a critical task. The challenge is therefore of envisioning architecture in the light of these realities. For climate change, longer-term pathways have already been identified, covering the thematic areas of energy, human settlements, industry, land use, oceans and coastal zones, transport and water, and a cross-cutting area of resilience.

The pathways requiring unprecedented mobilisation are to help the stakeholders take actions by 2020, 2030 and 2050. Each of the thematic areas is linked to architecture and has implications for practice. Regarding the pandemic, the study and analysis of the experience will provide guidance for the future. Two important lessons already learnt from the pandemic are that we are capable of reducing consumption, which has a direct impact on climate change, and that without digital technology the pandemic would have caused more distress and disruption.

Way forward It is evident that architecture is set for a change that will usher in a new architecture. It is no exaggeration to say that the actions set out by the Climate Action Pathways, along with the experience of Covid-19, will require nothing less than a reinvention of architecture. Many of the current practices are approaching redundancy and newer models are required to replace them. There are signs that architects have already geared up with efforts in the direction of climate change mitigation within nationally determined contributions.

The emerging view of the new architecture has a leaning towards social and environmental justice, covering all scales of human settlements and their delicate relationship to the environment at both local and global levels. Developments in global connectivity will surely help in disseminating the message of the new development so that no one is left behind. Further intensification of efforts can be achieved with particular emphasis on works, patronage and pedagogy.

Works of architecture are seen primarily as things built, but there are a vast number of works that remain as drawings and texts. It is of course the built that has the greatest influence on the trajectory of architecture, but the

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Pratica / Quale futuro?

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© Saif Ul Haque Sthapati © Saif Ul Haque Sthapati

contribution of drawings and texts is no less important. If we are to offer a new vision of architecture, our works must be expressive of that.

Architecture exists because of human necessity. Architects are engaged by individuals as well as by collectives. The necessities are determined by society and are of an evolving nature. Architecture’s evaluative criteria are also evolving, and patrons need to be kept updated. An empathetic relationship is a requisite for the evolution of a socially and environmentally equitable architecture.

Pedagogy holds an important position in preparing future architects. Greater inclusion of the concept of equity in curriculums will enhance the capabilities required for building an equitable future.

Sensitivity towards social and environmental justice and utilisation of digital technology can go hand in hand towards building an inclusive society and a sustainable planet. Architectural transformations take place over longer periods of time. Aligning architecture with climate change and with the learning from the Covid-19 experience is a way forward, a way towards an architecture of equity.

In order to chart a future course, references to past experiences can be insightful. The optimism of transformation shared here can find a similarity with the evolution of architectural modernity in postcolonial South Asia over several decades, resulting in the vibrant and thriving architecture culture of today. The role of climate and society have been crucial to this evolution. The pioneering efforts of Minette de Silva and Geoffrey Bawa of Sri Lanka, Achyut Kanvinde, Balkrishna Doshi and Charles Correa in India and Muzharul Islam in Bangladesh were fundamental in the making of this postcolonial architectural modernity. The pioneers’ efforts were complemented by the involvement of world-renowned architects like Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, whose works also acknowledge climate and society.

In Bangladesh, Muzharul Islam played roles that went beyond the boundary of his own practice, including getting Louis Kahn, Paul Rudolph and Stanley Tigerman invited to work in Bangladesh, involving himself in national politics, and engaging with young architects in search of a socially, culturally and environmentally rooted architecture. The ideas of Muzharul Islam continue to be relevant and a vital source of inspiration for generations of architects in Bangladesh.

© Saif Ul Haque Sthapati

© Saif Ul Haque Sthapati

A destra: un unico corridoio fornisce l’accesso alle tre aule.

In basso: diverse fasi di costruzione del progetto a basso costo e basso impatto ambientale, che ha utilizzato tre tipi di bambù. Le strutture sono tenute a galla da sottostrutture di fusti di acciaio da 136 litri circa usati all’interno di telai di bambù Right: a single corridor provides access to the three classroom spaces.

Bottom: the low-cost, low-impact project under construction using three types of bamboo. The structures are kept afloat by substructures of used 30-gallon steel drums within bamboo frames

Kids and colors Nursery in Buhl Creche Ropponmatsu

No colors for kids but nature. Vernacular and sustainable Corsica. A primary school enclosed by ancient oaks India. A school for perpetual hide and seek

As time goes by school furnishings keeps changing, and seems to go back and forth. Due to coronavirus, during last summer the Italian Education Ministry bought 2.5 millions of individual desks for the reopening of schools.

From the Deutscher Werkbund to Ulm, a striking story of school furnishings

So many topics are still to explore regarding education and its architecture‌

Thank you

Links Featured In The Presentation In Chronological Order

https://www.domusweb.it/it.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/events/istanbul-design-biennial/2018/10/02/domus-222-a-school-for-home-economics.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/events/istanbul-design-biennial/2018/10/02/domus-222-a-school-for-home-economics.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/events/istanbul-design-biennial/2018/09/17/italy-in-the-1970s-school-architecture-and-itsconceptual-territory.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2012/10/29/clay-bound-utopia.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2017/02/09/jungle_flower_kientruc112.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2019/01/09/library-wood-polycarbonate-stilts-shulin-architectural-designliangjiashan.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2016/04/01/dominique_coulon_and_associes_nursery_in_buhl.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2017/08/03/creche_ropponmatsu.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2018/06/12/corsica-a-primary-school-enclosed-by-ancient-oaks.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/gallery/2019/08/22/school-of-dancing-arches-by-samira-rathod-design-associates.html https://www.domusweb.it/en/events/istanbul-design-biennial/2018/09/27/from-the-deutscher-werkbund-to-ulm-a-striking-story-of-school-furnishings.html