Filipe Balestra & the Incremental Housing StrategyLast semester I did some case studies from the work of Filipe Balestra. He did some housing projects he called “incremental housing” in the city of Pune, India. It basically looked at the idea of incrementally replacing a vernacular housing typology that presented many safety and sanitary problems with a more formal housing, but incrementally at the scale of the informal settlement over time.
Filipe has done a number of these projects that fit into the fabric of the landscape, including one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi where an abandoned under-utlized building is transformed into a school. I’ve even started to explore these ideas in Dharavi, where I’m now working with the fabric to see how architecture can be created. I’m pretty excited. Well, I guess The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers and the National Slum Dwellers Federation, two nonprofits focused on housing rights, have been closely working with Filipe and his partner Sara Göransson, to start collaborating with residents in Pune before actual construction. This is really exciting. With so many social, cultural and economic networks already working within these informal settlements, wiping them out or moving people to the far reaches of the city doesn’t make sense. Developing them in this method, recognizing that it is a legitimate way of building, will only strengthen the positive aspects of these places. Uprooting them only degrades quality of life, and will ultimately force people into building more informal settlements. Often in riskier locations, with even less support for much needed infrastructure. Read more: Comments (View) |
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