Design Intervention (Routledge Revivals)

Toward a More Humane Architecture

Wolfgang F. E. Preiser, Jacqueline Vischer, Edward White

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317500599
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Design Intervention: Toward a More Humane Architecture, first published in 1991, intends to demonstrate that interest in social issues is alive and well in architecture, that there is a small but effective cadre of dedicated professionals who continue to commit themselves to solving social problems, and that architecture is being applied to the alleviation of the social ills of our time.

The editors and contributors in this book have all grappled with their own definitions of design innovation, and express in practical and useful ways their ideas for contributing to a better and less needy world through the architecture they describe.

This book will be of interest to students of architecture.

Part I
Housing Design and Social Change

Part I of this book, "Housing Design Innovation," reflects the changing social structure of society. It deals with social situations that are becoming common in Western industrialized society today, such as single-parent families. These situations require innovative design responses, presented in the form of case-study examples of housing. The populations covered in this part of the book include the homeless, the single-parent family, and pregnant women in conflict with the law, as well as elderly and retired persons.

The traditional American dream and model of free-standing suburban houses surrounded by gardens and like-minded suburbanites no longer fits, at least as far as the United States is concerned. The reality is increasing "atomization" of social structures that used to be the glue of society, such as the support the nuclear family or the extended family clan provided to family members. Today, we find a continuing trend of increases in divorce rates and growing numbers of people living by themselves. Interestingly, more cooperative or "cohousing" projects are gaining recognition and are being realized on the west coast of the United States, for example.

Cohousing still serves only a tiny fraction of the population; the majority of people seem to be mishoused. For the socially/economically disadvantaged segment of society, the so-called "safety net" seems to have failed and innovative solutions need to be found. The purpose of Part I, then, is to fill that gap by showing that meaningful models and solutions can and have been developed, even though some may only be prototypes at this time. It is hoped that the chapters presented here will stimulate alternatives to traditional housing, i.e., housing experiments that attempt to provide needed social support. Contrary to a statement made by one of the interviewees in the Epilogue, the environment does indeed affect human behavior! To deny that would be unfortunate and would send us back to the dark ages, when architecture was seen to be pure art only.

1. Housing the Single-parent Family

Kathryn H. Anthony

The 1980s have witnessed an explosion of a new generation of poverty, largely composed of women and their children. Forced out of their homes by separation, divorce, or unwed motherhood, this group has grown significantly over the past decade and their housing problems can often only be characterized as desperate. Unless drastic changes in federal housing policies are made during the Bush administration, it is likely that the housing dilemmas faced by America's single parents in the 1990s will be even worse than they are today. The rapidly changing demographics of the American household and the prominence of single-parent families presents one of the greatest challenges to designers, planners, developers, and politicians.

Who are America's Single-Parent Families?

Single-parent families are an extremely diverse group. At present, the majority of single-parent families are the byproducts of divorce and separation. The 1980 census showed that 3,670,000 single-parent families were caused by divorce, 3,454,000 by separation or an absent spouse, 2,268,000 by never having been married, and 658,000 by death of a spouse. The numbers of unwed parents have skyrocketed, and it is very likely that in only a few years this group will soon become the major source of single parenthood. At present, one out of every five American children lives with a single parent, usually the mother (Bianchi & Seltzer, 1986), and one out of every four American families is headed by a single parent (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1984).

The high rate of divorce and separation, as well as increasing numbers of unwed mothers, have contributed to a generation of largely impoverished women and children. Almost half (49 percent) of American families headed by women have annual incomes below the poverty line, or about $7,000 for a family of four. By comparison, male-headed households with incomes below the poverty line represent only 5 percent of all male-headed households (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 1980).

Single-parent households make up a growing share of both America's young households and the nation's poverty population. Over the past 15 years, the number of single-parent households with heads aged 25 to 34 more than tripled. In 1987, the median annual income for households in this category was only $9,621. In the same year, for single-parent households with heads aged under 25, the median annual income was even worse—a meager $4,688 (Apgar & Brown, 1988).

What Kinds of Housing Conditions do Single Parents Live in Today?

The housing conditions of the nation's single parents are, for the most part, rather dismal. Compared to two-parent families, this group appears to be at a clear disadvantage when it comes to housing. Over half the female-headed households with minor children in America have a housing problem. One third of these households are cost-burdened, i.e., they pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent, or, if homeowners, they pay more than 40 percent of their income for housing costs (Birch, 1985).

Single parents live in a variety of housing arrangements. The more fortunate ones live on their own. Some are able to keep their homes after a separation or divorce, but this often occurs only with great financial hardship (Weitzman, 1985). A series of moves is the more likely scenario. In fact, U.S. national data reveals that in the first year of separation, 55 percent of divorced mothers have moved out of their marital homes. Three years later, 74 percent of them have moved, and by this time 31 percent of them have moved once, 21 percent twice, and 22 percent three times or more (Bane & Weiss, 1980). Those forced to move often drop their housing standards substantially. Some move back in with their immediate families or other relatives, often in a less-than-ideal environment that poses new problems of its own (Anderson-Khlief, 1982). Still others rent out portions of their homes as accessory apartments, or share housing with other single-parent families (Mulroy, 1988).

High-rent burdens (the ratio of median rent to income) especially plague single-parent families. In fact, rental housing is increasingly becoming home to low- and moderate-income single-parent households. From 1974 to 1987, median incomes of young single-parent renter households dropped sharply, while rents rose steadily. The rent burden for young single-parent families increased from 34.9 percent to 58.4 percent. From 1974 to 1983, the number of young single-parent households living in inadequate housing rose from 374,000 to 484,000 (Apgar & Brown, 1988).

Although not generally thought of as such, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 program and public housing program are predominantly women's programs. Female-headed households comprise over three-fourths of Section 8 participants. Public housing projects also contain a majority of female-headed households, although exact figures are not known. Approximately three out of four households in public housing are headed by single adults, most of whom are female (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 1980).

The worst off have no homes at all. In fact, a fairly high percentage of the nation's homeless are also single-parent families. The large numbers of homeless women and children who live on our nation's streets and sidewalks are astounding, shattering the stereotype of the old, male alcoholic as the predominant image of the homeless.

In discussing the housing conditions of today's single-parent families, it is important to distinguish between inner-city, suburban, and rural residents. Single mothers are usually renters, and thus are concentrated in central cities. The search for affordable housing after a separation or divorce often results in a move from standard-quality rental housing in a safe inner-city neighborhood to substandard housing in a deteriorated part of the city. The picture in the suburbs and in rural areas is somewhat different, however. Here single mothers have often become the "nouveau poor." Having been homeowners during a marriage, these women are left house-poor in suburbia or rural America. Accompanying this displacement in housing is a dramatic shift from middle- to low-income status (Mulroy, 1988).

Another distinction must be made among the housing conditions of different types of single-parent families. The housing needs of those who are separated, divorced, or widowed are often quite different from those who have never married. Parents with preschool, young school-age, or teenage children, as well as with small or large families, experience a different set of housing needs (Anthony et al., 1990).

What Kinds of Special Housing Environments are Offered for Single Parents and their Children, and How well are they Working?

A few housing projects have been designed and built, with the assistance of federal dollars, especially for single parents and their children. One of the best known prototypes is called Hubertusvereniging, or "Mother's Home," in Amsterdam, designed by Aldo van Eyck. The project was sponsored by the Hubertusvereniging Foundation and directed by the Catholic church. It was completed in 1980 and houses approximately 16 mothers and their children. In addition, it operates as a 24-hour emergency shelter for up to 90 people and a child-care center. Its residents include transitional families, pregnant teenagers, children awaiting adoption, and the temporarily homeless, as well as single parents (Ahrentzen, 1989b; France, 1985).

Another project that has attracted some international attention is Nina West Homes in London, named after a single-parent developer and activist. Nina West developed several housing complexes for single parents and their children. Some began as conversions of small buildings into multifamily housing with day-care facilities. One of the more well-known projects that Nina West administers is Fiona House, designed by Sylvester Bone in 1972. I...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Contributors
• An Introduction to Design Intervention: A Manifesto for the Future of Environmental Design
• PART I. HOUSING DESIGN AND SOCIAL CHANGE
• PART II. DESIGNING FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
• PART III. DESIGN INNOVATION
• Epilogue: Summing Up Opinions on Architecture and Social Change
• Index