Thriving Communities

The primary need addressed by Upgrading Labor in Cambodia is the improvement of the living conditions and social integration of factory workers in the Special Economic Zone of Phnom Penh. The social housing project provides affordable housing with good quality features, guaranteeing a dignified living standard. The design responds to the requirements of workers and alternates vegetated areas with private areas and clustered common areas. The used passive building design strategies go a long way to enhance affordability.

Indigenous Wellness is a unique example of a building designed to cater for the needs of an ethnic minority, the indigenous communities of Canada’s Northwest Territories. The project envisages a holistic integration of cultural and medicine and wellness services. It bridges the gap between traditional indigenous and conventional western medicine, as well as promotes intergenerational knowledge transfer, making a substantial contribution towards the celebration and preservation of the cultural identity of Inuit, Métis, and First Nation people.

Taking social transformation charge, Grassroots Microgrid in the USA pursues decentralization of infrastructure for the benefit of the neighborhood, and it does so by developing a pilot project for local energy and food production, water and waste management on urban unused space in Detroit. Building on long-term community engagement and empowerment, the civic infrastructure is collectively owned and managed, creates revenue streams and revenue sharing models for the community, as well as educational programs.

Universal access to quality education is key to ensuring sustainable development and ending poverty. The White Rabbit in India extends the right to education to marginalized and orphaned children in the city of Thane. Child-friendly design, reflecting the scale and sensitivity of children’s perception is used throughout, and a healthy environment for the young clientele is made possible by a careful design consideration of ventilation and light performance on the constricted urban lot.

Legacy Restored in Niger is a religious and secular complex in Dandaji. The project plans for the conversion of an old mosque into a community center and library, enriched by a thorough landscape strategy. The re-use of the existing structure and integration of the history of the site promote a close engagement with the local social fabric, inclusive of use of local workforce and preservation of vernacular construction techniques. The intention of the building goes well beyond social impact, by establishing a careful balance between the built and the natural environments, through sustainable building strategies.

Designed purposely for the reintegration of former army personnel into society, Post-War Collective in Sri Lanka provides incremental building skills to provide a future after civil war. The communal library in Ambepussa has been built by soldiers, as an on-the-job training project, and is currently used by the soldiers and for children’s literacy and basic schooling. Planned early in the design stage, construction activities can be used as workforce training across the construction industry, enriching know-how on sustainable construction practices such as reuse of construction and demolition waste and discarded infrastructure as is the case here. The soldiers acquire skills that enable a viable post-conflict future, for both the individual and the community.

This Clothing Factory in Sri Lanka creates an environment that is conducive to lean manufacturing. The production floor is divided into separate areas where workers collaborate in teams, enhancing productivity and employee satisfaction. The factory is profitable to operate, displaying energy efficiency, operational efficiency, and high productivity, with a payback period for the extra cost of making the building sustainable of only five years.

A place appropriate intervention and a graceful design that educates the public about the environmental qualities of the project is a main feature of the Micro Library project in Bandung, Indonesia. Conceived to fill the gap in educational facilities in the region and promote literacy, the intervention is minimally disruptive to the nature it is immersed in. Reading spaces as well as the pavilion external covered spaces are attractive and inviting. Biophilic design features are integrated throughout, bringing beauty, nature, and context together.