Beyond Shelter – Architecture for Crisis
As climatic changes trigger increasingly severe weather-related disasters it’s the death toll that inevitably grabs the headlines. What happens to those who remain is rarely examined.
The gruesome reality, as witnessed by the ongoing agony in Haiti and in communities hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, is that people are left to fend for themselves in a hotchpotch of temporary, unsanitary and dangerous camps, all feeling of safety, of community, of shelter gone.
Part of what this book proposes is most disaster relief charities have a poor grasp of how to physically rebuild communities after disaster strikes – and that architects can and should be more involved in this process. But we also know, from extensive modelling as well as firsthand experience, where the most vulnerable people of the world live and we know how inadequate much of their infrastructure is to withstand future floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and more. It is our duty to help.
To those who say it can’t be done, this book provides a powerful answer. Written with compassion and beautifully illustrated, here are 25 examples of people and organisations that are doing it in every corner of the world – in some of the most challenging conditions on the planet. It is work that puts the organic shampoo and the comforting weekly trip to the recycling bin that most of us consider is ‘doing our bit’ into stark perspective.
Whether you know anything about architecture or not, Beyond Shelter is essential reading for anyone who wants a bigger perspective on the future. Whether read it from its intended applied architecture point of view, or understood from a broader symbolic angle, the message is the same: we must build a stronger infrastructure – one that will withstand the abrupt changes that are coming.
Activism is often seen as a process of tearing things –systems, beliefs, corporations – down. But the most enduring activism is one that builds. This book provides an inspirational blueprint for architects to become a vital part of that process.
Beyond Shelter: Architecture for Crisis
Edited by Marie J Aquilino
Thames & Hudson
£18.95
- This review was published in the September 2011 edition of Geographical.
