Dec 23, 2023
Food banks consist of individuals and groups who share the same general philosophy: helping people in need. Members committed to enabling fo
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
Food banks consist of individuals and groups who share the same general philosophy: helping people in need. Members committed to enabling fo
SINGAPORE | The Latest: China's premier urges reassurances for markets
SINGAPORE | The Latest: China’s premier urges reassurances for markets
SINGAPORE— The Latest on the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which ends Thursday in Singapore (all times local):
2:35 p.m.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (LEE KUH’-chiang) has told fellow Asian leaders the region needs to send a strong positive message to markets about sticking to trade rules and open markets.
Li spoke Thursday at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian…
View On WordPress
Concrete Action Launch with John Murray of NAM
Forty years between them but both similarly radical,co-founder of the mid-70s New Architecture Movement (NAM) John Murray and Concrete Action launched Real Estates Week 6 on Wednesday 25 March.
Photography by Rachel Ferriman
The night not only saw the start of our final week but also the launch of Concrete Action, a new platform for professionals to leak about planning and regeneration anonymously.
The event began with John Murray reflecting on his architectural career and the work of the NAM. Formed from the Architects Revolutionary Council in 1975, NAM represented feminist groups, trade unions and professionals, for the practice of alternative design and building, and the accountability of designers and planners to community.
From NAM the National Design Service was developed. Supported by young Left wing councillors, local authorities, such as Haringey in the late 70s, had their own architects who worked as a team for the local community on public projects.
Such projects included the investment in the Broadwater Farm estate after the 1985 riots. For its close association with the community, a councillor accused the Haringey Architects for having “gone native”. John took the comment as a complement.
The encroachment of privatisation led to the closure of the Haringey Architects and the slow disappearance of its history.
Recently John McAslan was praised for opening the ‘first architect's studio in Tottenham’, offering apprenticeships to local young people. However, as John stated in a reply to one newspaper, the Haringey Architects were the first. Social history is being hidden, John said at the launch event. The possibilities for social change must be reinvented, he added.
One organisation doing just that is Concrete Action. Responding to weak ethical awareness within the architectural profession and the displacement of communities from destructive planning, Concrete Action offer to support leakers, professionals and communities.
Soon to be fully operational, the organisation will provide a translation service to explain in detail the exact meaning and implications of regeneration schemes. Other tools will include the mapping of developments and design support to counter these projects.
“There isn’t a direct pathway through planning,” one member of Concrete Action said, behind them a slide clearly demonstrating the multiple links connecting the council and developer - permission and consultation, building and community.
The chart also showed the planning process it is not dependent on a single element. Thus to change the process it is not enough to only subvert one part. Concrete Action hopes to combine conscientious professionals involved in different branches with communities affected by the planning process to restructure the system.
“Architecture should have little to do with problem solving,” British architect and writer Cedric Price said, “rather it should create desirable conditions and opportunities hitherto thought impossible.”
Concrete Action’s mission is not to fix the housing crisis but to facilitate for a new form of housing cooperation.