Becoming a ’caring architect’ : a new architectural design process applying principles of care

Abstract

The need for sustainable and resilient societies is substantial and their importance is increasing in a climate crisis, with its impact being most severe on those communities which are already struggling. At present, the prevailing conception of the architectural design process addresses architectural work specifically through the creation of a new ’static product’ and continues to ignore the social impacts of the design process on surrounding social communities and networks. This represents a major weakness in architectural practice, which needs a radical change. The objective of this thesis is precisely to observe socially and ecologically sustainable design practices, and the design process they constitute, which supports the creation of democratic and inclusive social environments by protecting and maintaining the existing building stock. This thesis is based on a multidisciplinary literary review, which highlights the theory of care and the concept of caring architecture and their implementation in architectural work, the socio-political characteristics of temporary use and participatory design, as well as democratic processes. The findings of the literature review are compared to each other to formulate an understanding of the ’framework’ of a socially and ecologically sustainable architectural practice. In addition to the literature review, the design process was studied using qualitative research methods, interviewing individuals with professional experience and knowledge of participatory design and/or temporary use. The interviews were conducted with Hella Hernberg, Milla Kallio and Pia Ilonen. The findings of the interviews were compared to the findings of the literature review to create a comprehensive and systematic understanding of socio-politically and ecologically engaged design processes and how to initiate and facilitate such practices. Architecture should move towards new models of less consuming, environmentally and socially sustainable work and practicing. The significance of the theory of care and the concept of caring architecture in the work of architects, when the aim is to implement socially and ecologically sustainable inclusive processes, was identified in the thesis. In addition, it was found that unlike the predominant design process, there is no unambiguous linear process pattern for a caring design process, which takes place in a dynamic multi-dimensional network of collaborative environments. Such a ’caring design process’, its collaborative environment and the role and position of the architect as part of the process were found to be fundamentally different from the prevailing design process and its practices and roles. It was identified that the caring architect’s work is not only about the material creation of the building itself, but what can be achieved in it, i.e. the social and cultural ‘works’ that are created by the social networks.