Building the slum

The two-day workshop with Daniele Pario Perra had very interesting intentions. An introduction to emergent urbanities and a first attempt trying to understand how it could work. Learning by doing. Unfortunately I think that two days were far from the time needed in order to make this workshop live up to its potential.

The very first thing you get to do starting the Architectural school at KTH in Stockholm is a one week workshop very similar to Daniele’s.
During the week groups collect rejected building material and things people have thrown away all over Stockholm. By the end of the week these materials are used to construct shacks in which the groups also spend one night.

When given a week there is more (needed) time to commit to the task and to really get engaged. For Daniele’s workshop getting into character of how it would be to be homeless in the Netherlands. Something I missed and felt I didn’t get the time to do.

Before starting the actual construction we (the group of 40 strong minded architectural students) spent far too long time trying to plan and agree of things we in the end had to change and adjust to the specific problems of the site and to the building materials we found. Far too long time trying to plan the unplanned…
But in the end I guess that was a lesson in itself, problem solving is always a good way of getting to know a group and if nothing more an interesting social experiment.

The thing I found most inspiring was the initial presentation of urban and other emergent designs of re-used materials. Unfortunately in our squatted settlement we never reached this level of detailing (with a few exceptions). In Dharavi where they make everything out of nothing everyday my inspiration tank was refilled. Perhaps it doesn’t inspire me in the actual way of producing new objects out of old but in the terms of a broader view of functionality in general.