H O [ U S ] I N G
A piece inspired by dialogue on the future of housing, at Architecture Media’s ‘Design Speaks’ forum in July. All themes covered in the discussion – including "ageing in place", high-rise development, social housing and challenging the status quo – focused on one concept: making our spaces human.
A house cannot be home without heart,
So as architects, this is where we must start.
To uplift and inspire, is the core of our art.
High or low? Tall or small?
Increasing density and urban sprawl…
Surely, if we try, we can solve it all.
But not everyone agrees on issues like these;
Many opinions and complexities;
Not enough being done by authorities
To ensure the wellbeing of our growing cities.
Design can’t succeed on its own;
There’s much more than that to a home.
There’s a lot that architects can’t do alone…
Like taking people off the streets –
Giving them safety and something to eat,.
The bureaucratic beast is hard to beat.
Housing, after all, is a basic need,
Deserved by all but thwarted by greed.
With money-driven deals, we won’t succeed.
With a growing population and limited space,
We build higher and higher at an increasing pace.
But “how high is too high?” is the question we face.
Not being able to run out the front door and onto the ground;
Not having a garden or anything natural around,
Seems too far from our roots to be considered sound.
If living directly on the earth is stuff of The Dream,
Then call me a dreamer, because my heart takes me
To the stars and the trees – the sky and the sea –
Rather than the concrete jungle of a sleepless city.
But if cities are the future – and maybe they are –
Then how can we make them human without spreading out too far?
Home is where the heart is; this is not unknown.
To design for people rather than profit, is to go from house to home.
Written by: Sahibajot Kaur of Plus Architecture (New South Wales Event Correspondent for AWS)
Sahibajot Kaur is a Student Architect at Plus Architecture, who recently graduated from the Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Sydney. As a big believer in the values of humanitarianism, she is interested in site-responsive, socially-uplifting and sustainable architecture. She is constantly questioning what is means ‘to live’, and how architecture can truly help people while being as simple as possible. Sahibajot currently blogs about her learning and ideas, and envisions herself as an advocate of responsible, sensitive and passive design in practice and in dialogue
