Architettura e Narrativa. Il dialogo del tempo, dello spazio e dell’uomo

As the oldest way of interaction between people, narration is an archetypal form, like building, within man's daily life. The latter is enriched through the story, and it is sublimated through the spiritual experience of living space. Distant on the level of form and structure, of heaviness and impalpability, narration and architecture seem irreconcilable, but today, while in the contemporary every human experience is consumed by the speed of time, these two forms of communication find themselves investigating together the sense of time, space and human existence. Together they come to a new form of perception that goes beyond language and feeds on the sensibility of the architect, but also on the life that they are required to nourish and produce within a telling space.Come via più antica dell’interazione fra le persone, la narrazione è una forma archetipa, al pari del costruire, all’interno della vita quotidiana dell’uomo. Quest’ultima si arricchisce attraverso il racconto, e si sublima tramite l’esperienza spirituale del vivere lo spazio. Distanti sul piano della forma e della struttura, della pesantezza e della impalpabilità, narrazione e architettura appaiono inconciliabili, eppure oggi, mentre nella contemporaneità ogni esperienza umana viene consumata dalla rapidità del tempo, queste due forme di comunicazione si ritrovano ad indagare insieme il senso del tempo, dello spazio e dell’esistenza umana. Insieme giungono ad una nuova forma di percezione che va oltre il linguaggio e si nutre della sensibilità  dell’architetto, ma anche della vita che essi sono tenuti ad alimentare e a produrre all’interno di uno spazio raccontabile

A review of the impact of shelter design on the health of displaced populations

There are currently millions of displaced people encamped in low-quality shelters that jeopardise the health of these displaced populations. These shelters, which exhibit poor thermal regulation and air quality, are often inhabited by households for several years. Recently, the internal environment of shelters has been recognised as a determinant of the health of the occupants and the indoor air quality (IAQ) and internal temperatures have been identified as critical factors affecting occupants’ health. Attempts by researchers and private companies to develop healthier shelter solutions have mainly prioritised factors such as rapid deployment, transportability and sustainability. Via a systematic bibliometric analysis of the existing literature, this review examines the impact of shelters’ internal environment on occupant health. Self-reports and building simulation are the most common methodologies reported in the literature, but there is a disconnect between the reported shelter issues and their impact on health. This is likely due to the multifaceted and site-specific factors analysed. Indoor air quality, thermal comfort and overcrowding are the most commonly identified shelter issues, which are strongly related to the presence of infectious and airborne diseases. An analysis of the available literature indicates that there is still a lack of clear guidance linking shelter quality to health. Moreover, evidence of the impact of shelters on health is harder to find, and there is a gap regarding the metrics and the methodology used to evaluate shelter quality. Therefore, further research is necessary to provide evidence of the impact of shelter design on health through transdisciplinary approaches

Shelter Assessment Matrix video

Millions of people are forcibly displaced around the world and are encamped in temporary shelters, often for more than a decade. Unfortunately, many of these shelters provide poor conditions in which to live and raise a family. Some of the problems are physical, for example temperatures above 40 degrees centigrade in shelters in summer and below freezing in winter, or dangerous air quality from cooking on open fires with no chimney, or insects attacking the structure. Some are cultural, such as the use of low-level windows allowing men to see into female areas, or the lack of separate male and female entrances. Others security based, for example the use of materials that are not knife resistant. The Healthy Housing for the Displaced project led by University of Bath has studied the conditions provided by shelters around world, and asked the displaced how their accommodation might be improved. The results have been enlightening. The constraints of cost, time and materials make creating ideal living conditions challenging, but we have found that by applying some basic building science and attending to the local culture, lives can be transformed. By discussing the problem with our aid agency and architectural partners it became clear that much of the issue was due to there being no structured processes for developing shelter designs that considered these physical and societal concerns. The guidance that existed was scattered, and lessons learnt were often lost before the next project. However, we also discovered that agency staff and architects would welcome a process if it were supported by the tools needed to analyze the situation and any proposed design. In response, we designed the Shelter Assessment Matrix (or SAM). SAM is a simple spreadsheet supported by a series of computer tools that predict the performance of a shelter, for example the likely temperature within the shelter in winter and summer in a specific location. SAM also contains a set of short information sheets that discuss the various issues for those new to shelter design, on topics such as ventilation, cost and security. SAM can be used by aid workers, designers or architects to: (i) inform design, (ii) upskill staff, (iii) help write tender documents, (iv) score tender responses, (v) identify issues, & (vi) improve designs. SAM operates using 34 key issues that our research has shown to be critical. A central discovery by the team is just how important location and climate is, and just how much of a difference it makes to speak to the occupants, or those from a similar setting or group before designing. This might seem obvious; however, our work has shown that architects can have a tendency to think that it is possible to design a shelter that will work in the majority of settings, without fully considering the impact of climate, or that different displacement settings have very different budgets, or that the displaced are not an homogeneous group, or that certain materials might not be allowed in some settings. In addition, aid workers can sometimes overly rely on knowledge from previous projects in very different settings, or are simply too rushed or too poorly funded to bring those with other skills into the project. Key to SAM is that it first asks the user to think about the requirements, i.e. the setting, the occupants, the costs and the thoughts of the host government, etc. then to input the details of the shelter. The shelter is then scored against the requirements. So, it is the match between the setting or context and the shelter that is analyzed. As each of the 34 issues is considered separately, the user can quickly identify weaknesses or potential improvements. SAM can be downloaded from our website (www.hhftd.net) and is free, we hope you find it useful

Shelter Assessment Matrix video

Millions of people are forcibly displaced around the world and are encamped in temporary shelters, often for more than a decade. Unfortunately, many of these shelters provide poor conditions in which to live and raise a family. Some of the problems are physical, for example temperatures above 40 degrees centigrade in shelters in summer and below freezing in winter, or dangerous air quality from cooking on open fires with no chimney, or insects attacking the structure. Some are cultural, such as the use of low-level windows allowing men to see into female areas, or the lack of separate male and female entrances. Others security based, for example the use of materials that are not knife resistant. The Healthy Housing for the Displaced project led by University of Bath has studied the conditions provided by shelters around world, and asked the displaced how their accommodation might be improved. The results have been enlightening. The constraints of cost, time and materials make creating ideal living conditions challenging, but we have found that by applying some basic building science and attending to the local culture, lives can be transformed. By discussing the problem with our aid agency and architectural partners it became clear that much of the issue was due to there being no structured processes for developing shelter designs that considered these physical and societal concerns. The guidance that existed was scattered, and lessons learnt were often lost before the next project. However, we also discovered that agency staff and architects would welcome a process if it were supported by the tools needed to analyze the situation and any proposed design. In response, we designed the Shelter Assessment Matrix (or SAM). SAM is a simple spreadsheet supported by a series of computer tools that predict the performance of a shelter, for example the likely temperature within the shelter in winter and summer in a specific location. SAM also contains a set of short information sheets that discuss the various issues for those new to shelter design, on topics such as ventilation, cost and security. SAM can be used by aid workers, designers or architects to: (i) inform design, (ii) upskill staff, (iii) help write tender documents, (iv) score tender responses, (v) identify issues, & (vi) improve designs. SAM operates using 34 key issues that our research has shown to be critical. A central discovery by the team is just how important location and climate is, and just how much of a difference it makes to speak to the occupants, or those from a similar setting or group before designing. This might seem obvious; however, our work has shown that architects can have a tendency to think that it is possible to design a shelter that will work in the majority of settings, without fully considering the impact of climate, or that different displacement settings have very different budgets, or that the displaced are not an homogeneous group, or that certain materials might not be allowed in some settings. In addition, aid workers can sometimes overly rely on knowledge from previous projects in very different settings, or are simply too rushed or too poorly funded to bring those with other skills into the project. Key to SAM is that it first asks the user to think about the requirements, i.e. the setting, the occupants, the costs and the thoughts of the host government, etc. then to input the details of the shelter. The shelter is then scored against the requirements. So, it is the match between the setting or context and the shelter that is analyzed. As each of the 34 issues is considered separately, the user can quickly identify weaknesses or potential improvements. SAM can be downloaded from our website (www.hhftd.net) and is free, we hope you find it useful

Shelter Assessment Matrix video

Millions of people are forcibly displaced around the world and are encamped in temporary shelters, often for more than a decade. Unfortunately, many of these shelters provide poor conditions in which to live and raise a family. Some of the problems are physical, for example temperatures above 40 degrees centigrade in shelters in summer and below freezing in winter, or dangerous air quality from cooking on open fires with no chimney, or insects attacking the structure. Some are cultural, such as the use of low-level windows allowing men to see into female areas, or the lack of separate male and female entrances. Others security based, for example the use of materials that are not knife resistant. The Healthy Housing for the Displaced project led by University of Bath has studied the conditions provided by shelters around world, and asked the displaced how their accommodation might be improved. The results have been enlightening. The constraints of cost, time and materials make creating ideal living conditions challenging, but we have found that by applying some basic building science and attending to the local culture, lives can be transformed. By discussing the problem with our aid agency and architectural partners it became clear that much of the issue was due to there being no structured processes for developing shelter designs that considered these physical and societal concerns. The guidance that existed was scattered, and lessons learnt were often lost before the next project. However, we also discovered that agency staff and architects would welcome a process if it were supported by the tools needed to analyze the situation and any proposed design. In response, we designed the Shelter Assessment Matrix (or SAM). SAM is a simple spreadsheet supported by a series of computer tools that predict the performance of a shelter, for example the likely temperature within the shelter in winter and summer in a specific location. SAM also contains a set of short information sheets that discuss the various issues for those new to shelter design, on topics such as ventilation, cost and security. SAM can be used by aid workers, designers or architects to: (i) inform design, (ii) upskill staff, (iii) help write tender documents, (iv) score tender responses, (v) identify issues, & (vi) improve designs. SAM operates using 34 key issues that our research has shown to be critical. A central discovery by the team is just how important location and climate is, and just how much of a difference it makes to speak to the occupants, or those from a similar setting or group before designing. This might seem obvious; however, our work has shown that architects can have a tendency to think that it is possible to design a shelter that will work in the majority of settings, without fully considering the impact of climate, or that different displacement settings have very different budgets, or that the displaced are not an homogeneous group, or that certain materials might not be allowed in some settings. In addition, aid workers can sometimes overly rely on knowledge from previous projects in very different settings, or are simply too rushed or too poorly funded to bring those with other skills into the project. Key to SAM is that it first asks the user to think about the requirements, i.e. the setting, the occupants, the costs and the thoughts of the host government, etc. then to input the details of the shelter. The shelter is then scored against the requirements. So, it is the match between the setting or context and the shelter that is analyzed. As each of the 34 issues is considered separately, the user can quickly identify weaknesses or potential improvements. SAM can be downloaded from our website (www.hhftd.net) and is free, we hope you find it useful