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Breaking the usual tone of this blog with some pictures from the endeavor of Veronica and me to map out some extreme poverty in Bucharest.
(click on the images to get full resolution details)
What you can find is quite shocking – what good is scripting and programming for these people? This is a question i try to block out so as not to undergo a division by zero 
Hi There!
Perhaps scripting would be very relevant to this people if somehow we architects-designers-developers-politicians make good use of computing to avoid repeating all over and over.
Unfortunately current trends in architecture and urban planning ( at least the ones we see published in glossy paper) only address the problems of personal egos, financial nonsense, geometrical challenges and so on and so fort.
And one day the switch will go off, no more computing so we will start “coding” in different ways, perhaps then, scripting will be more relevant to all the people in the world who live similarly. . .
Hello,
thanks for your insightful comment. Unfortunately, i have to agree completely with what you say… In a way current computational trends are quite successful in alienating architecture even more from, let’s say, “lower” classes or even from the job itself. This one aspect christ barlieb (see below!) also agrees with strongly, if i’m not mistaken…
Who knows what the future holds… For now, solutions to these problems rely mostly on social politics than architecture (which, in a way, has a secondary, subservient role and the minimum best it can do is not to cause more trouble through inadequate solutions).
hey d its good to see you in touch. its a lovely challenge and one in your own backyard so to speak, go for it!
Thanks Chris! it’s a challenge indeed. Don’t really know if I have the right set of skills to handle it, but it’s definitively something to be taken into account.
I mean, when did architecture start to bother about people with no money? ok this was really evil…
handling poverty from my point of view as a designer is the challenge to shape the world around me/and my friends so that everyone can benefit of the result in a very short time. to use it and to take advantage of it. always to find an efficient,cheep and useful solution is sometimes a more bigger challenge than to think of a stylish and good looking product.
about computational and programming stuff so that they can be helpful try to figure out how to bring a fast result in terms of managing informations about different functions(global,local,human,needs…SANDU-like (structuralism theory, urban planning theory etc. – just so people know what you’re talking about) things-u know what i mean
yes indeed raresh – but visible improvements in this direction using these tools are truly hard to achieve.
you can get significant cost cuts on designing projects by using scripts instead of manual labor, or you can speed up the process by using advanced fabrication techniques (from milling and cutting to easy-on assembly systems) and save money while producing much more relevant (i mean customized even at individual/family level) projects. also by using scripting i think you should be able to mass-customize emergency/social projects at the same cost as designing one block and copying it in a nice planar array – bringing some quality and design advantages to people that cannot afford them usually, but, nonetheless, shouldn’t be deprived of this kind of quality (especially since it is much more achievable now that computational techniques are starting to get a foothold in architecture).