“At its core, design has always been about people,” said moderator Mrudul Pathak Kundu while introducing the panel discussion on Human-Centric Design at ID Mumbai 2024. Architects Alfaz Miller and Vivek Gupta accompanied her on stage, as were interior designer Iram Sultan, and Anand Asinkar, head of industrial & product design at KOHLER. The forty-minute conversation explored various aspects of humanitarian design and architecture, from external structures and infrastructural development influencing social progress to pivoting interiors and products around people’s wants and needs. If social structures can mould our buildings, it also works the other way around. Architecture can be an incredibly powerful tool in championing equality; some examples are traction trails for visually challenged people, gender-neutral bathrooms, housing for lower-income groups, rehabilitation facilities, public libraries, inclusive kindergarten schools, solar-powered public buildings, etc.
Here are some examples of Asian humanitarian architecture catalysing social progress and equality through various means. The architects and design firms behind them have been motivated by the altruistic belief that justice and opportunity should be basic human rights for all people. And they reassure us that good people will always strive to create inclusive spaces for all communities, races, genders, sexual orientations, and backgrounds. If the core of architecture and design is people, then people’s daily lives should be as accessible and egalitarian as possible.
Volontariat Homes for Homeless Children in Pondicherry (India), by Anupama Kundoo Architects
Located in Pondicherry, the Volontariat Homes project was built by Anupama Kundoo Architects, and represents what a truly sustainable, egalitarian, accessible community could look like. Originally created for the Belgian-based NGO, Volontariat, this cluster of homes was planned to accommodate fifteen children and five foster parents. Warm and welcoming on the outside, expansive and homely on the inside, these residences shelter the organisation’s cluster program. They are adaptable and built to different sizes to accommodate one foster parent per four children.
Using a rare technology pioneered by Ray Meeker of Golden Bridge Pottery, this project was built by baking a mud house in situ after construction. Essentially, the mud house is made with mud, cooked after building, to make the material as strong as brick. Its interiors were stuffed with mud bricks and other ceramic products like tiles, and fired as if it were a kiln. This is because kiln houses absorb about 40% of generated heat, thus stabilising the home from water damage–an essential feature given Pondicherry’s proximity to the Bay of Bengal. Every aspect of these homes was designed to prioritise practicality; the catenary-shaped domes offer the best structural stability before firing, and each dome was built in different sizes in order to cater to different family dynamics.
A social project that balances economic consciousness with sustainable development, unconventional materials that are affordable in cost and easy to find make up the primary framework of these homes. Bicycle wheel frames were turned into window formworks and grills, glass bottles became structural units for masonry in toilet areas, mundane chai cups lined the domes’ top openings. In this manner, Anupama Kundoo Architects amalgamated various building methodologies, design aesthetics, and sustainable materials while creating the Volontariat Homes. The result? An ingenious, inclusive domestic community that camouflages with its natural environment, and is made for sustainable family development.
Microlibrary – MoKa in Indonesia, by SHAU Indonesia
Microlibrary MoKa, designed by SHAU and located in Indonesia’s Java, is an innovative miniature prototype of the architectural firm’s famous Microlibrary built in 2020. The original was constructed in Semarang, Indonesia, and stands as an elevated, public library that is developed with the ideals of cost-efficiency, sustainable design, prefabrication, and convenience. That is to say, the building has been designed in such a way that it can be assembled on site with minimal impact to its environment, in a short period of time. SHAU Indonesia has pioneered a series of Microlibraries, of which this MoKa is the sixth iteration. Their aim, as an architectural firm, is to give back to society by inspiring people to read. Lead Architects Florian Heinzelmann, Daliana Suryawinata created socially-performative multi-functional community spaces, with environmentally-conscious design and materials, all of which aim to serve low-income neighbourhoods.
SHAU Architects ensured that this public institution, open to the community, is first and foremost an simple, accessible one. Microlibrary MoKa in Indonesia is an easy-to-assemble building that is based on plywood boards as basic measurement, which avoids cutting and wasting materials as much as possible. Several of the modules can be arrayed and arranged to form larger configurations according to functional needs. With that, it is possible to create a building configuration with various porosities in form of enclosed spaces or verandas–which is exactly what the architects have done. It is further intended to offer customisable façade panels and patterns so that each Microlibrary MoKA has a unique appearance or can be differentiated as response to external conditions like building orientation in relation to solar heat gains. Apart from the bundled posts which are made from four finger joint laminate elements, the whole system was designed with plywood panels as basis to keep the costs low and to be assembled via lap, cross lap, and layered bridle joints.
Built using minimal materials and maximising efficiency, the Microlibrary does exactly what its name promises: it provides books for free reading. In an age increasingly marked by reducing attention spans, social media addiction, and an obsession with instant gratification, this Microlibrary urges people to stop, smell the roses, and indulge in hours of slow living through literature. Being open to the public means that people from all walks of life–the economically disenfranchised, young children, women–are given the space to enjoy solitude with books, in the midst of lush greenery.
Farming Kindergarten in Dongnai (Vietnam), by VTN Architects (Vo Trong Nghia Architects)
Vietnam, a historically agricultural country, witnessed detrimental climate crises as its economy has been increasingly moving towards manufacturing. Increased numbers of floods, droughts and salinisation jeapordise food supplies, while air pollution is ubiquitous in cities. Rapid urbanisation has consequently affected the country’s childhood; Vietnamese children are being deprived of green lands and playgrounds, and no longer have a relationship with nature.
The worst affected community of climate crisis is the working class. This impetus gave rise to Farming Kindergarten: a challenge to counter class-based environmental damage. Located next to a shoe factory, the kindergarten has been specifically designed for 500 children of the factory’s workers—who otherwise live in low-lying areas that are most prone to flooding, pollution, and water shortage. Conceived as a contiunous green roof, the building provides food and agricultural experiences to the students, as well as an expansive playground that directly looks up to the sky.
Designed by VTN Architects’ Tran Thi Hang and Kuniko Onishi, Farming Kindergarten’s roof unfolds into a triple-ring shape space that encircles three courtyards, or safe playgrounds. An experimental vegetable garden was also realised on this roof, and inspires agricultural education to young children. What is most impressive about VTN’s design is how functional the institution is. The roof lowers to a courtyard, providing access to the upper level and topmost vegetable gardens. In this manner, it breaks free from every Foucauldian notion of schools replicating prison establishments, and instead celebrates open spaces, greenery, proximity to the sky, and energy-saving techniques.
More environmental strategies were incorporated by VTN. Principal architects of the firm, Vo Trong Nghia, Takashi Niwa and Masaaki Iwamoto ensured that cross ventilation and natural lighting is abundantly found filtering through the buildings operable windows. Combating environmental damage, the kindergarten has a green roof that acts as insulation, a green facade to shade the children from heat, and solar water heating. Air conditioning is not required in this space, as the archietcts employed innovative architectural methods to maintain moderate temperature in an otherwise tropical climate. Additionally, factory wastewater is recycled to irrigate the school’s greenery and flush toilets. This exemplifies how waste, when recycled, can contribute positively to society.
Farming Kindergarten is a social paragon for egalitarian ideals. It’s built for working class children, close to the factory where their families work, provides clean air in an otherwise polluted urban environment, teaches sustainable life skills at an early age, and most importantly, feels more like a playground than a rigid educational institution. If humanitarian architecture needs a poster child, the Farming Kindergarten project would be it.
Ejaad Women’s Workshop in Kabul (Afghanistan), by Architects Without Frontiers
The idea behind Ejaad Women’s Workshop was pretty rudimentary, but its mere existence—seemingly regular to most of us—defies social oppression. An empowerment project that provides opportunities to Afghan women that create and sell traditional embroidered designs, the establishment reached out to Architects Without Frontiers to bring the building to life in 2021. Having stayed strong through the Taliban’s government takeover and various medical, economic and political global disasters, Ejaad provides an income to a community of 300-400 women. All of this in the midst of a humanitarian crisis where only 13.3% of the men have jobs, and more than 50% of the population struggles with poverty.
When initially approached, Architects Without Frontiers had their work cut out for them. They had to develop a discreet workshop and learning centre; one that is inconspicuous from the outside, yet freeing on the inside. Here, women would be able to work safely, share their skills, and simultaneously learn English, Dari, and information technology. AWF’s network partner SJB worked closely with Ejaad to design this subtle, thematically efficient and culturally appropriate building that houses an office, a workshop area, a learning room for literary and computer classes, a small library, kitchen, bathroom facilities, and even a roof terrace.
Ever since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women’s rights have been clamped down and they are invisibilised in the public eye. It is humanitarian institutions like this that keep the morale high, and encourage women to keep dreaming, keep working and developing their skills, to not give up. AWF continued perservering through the COVID pandemic, humanitarian crises, and increasing violence against women. Ejaad Women’s Workshop is a perfect example of how architecture can camouflage with its cultural surroundings, all the while create a safe hideout for disenfranchised peoples to live freely and grow without fear.
Democratising private, public, and institutional spaces
An expansive green kindergarten for working class Vietnamese children that defies Foucauldian notions of the eerie “institution.” An Afghan women’s workshop that has survived wartorn judiciaries, global pandemics, anti-female laws and humanitarian crises. A cluster of homes for Pondicherry’s orphans, made entirely out of recycled materials and following vernacular aesthetics. And a microlibrary in Indonesia that reminds us of how public infrastructure can encourage literature and city spaces that build community. These are just four examples of how humanitarian architecture in Asia has catalysed the growth of an egalitarian, conscientious, and more hopeful society–one that has the potential to translate ideals into real-life practicalities.
