IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2017 - 8

FROM
| Tk
NEXT |IIDA
What's
New & of Note

THE POLITICS OF DESIGN

Photos by: (left) Better Shelter; (right) Jonas Nyström

The global political debate has been heating up for years. Designers must be aware of which way the
winds of change are blowing to anticipate new challenges-and opportunities-on the horizon, says
Tom Greenall, associate director of architectural design and research firm DSDHA and tutor at the
Royal College of Art in London, England.
"In today's political climate, I think it is almost impossible to separate design and architecture
from politics," he says. "Political decisions have huge ramifications for design."
Greenall says critical design should do more than simply hold up a mirror to current situations-
it should investigate alternatives.
In that vein, IKEA has worked to address the population displacement of the Syrian refugee
crisis. Its Better Shelter, a temporary home designed for refugees, is shipped in a standard IKEA
flat pack and comes with lightweight, thermally protected polymer panels that connect to a steel
frame. The shelter, which won the London Design Museum's 2016 Beazley Design of the Year, is
designed to last three years. But it's not a universal fix. And in some instances, this type of onesize-fits-all design solution can actually make the situation worse, says Tony Fry, director, Studio
at the Edge of the World and adjunct professor at the Creative Exchange Institute, University of
Tasmania, Launceston, Australia.
"To put people into many of these flat pack, prefabricated shelters is to basically put them into a
hot box," he says.
For humanitarian housing designs to be effective, they need to be customized to local
conditions, leveraging the knowledge of local cultures and communities. For instance, some relief
groups give people plastic bags they can fill with local materials, such as sand. This gives refugees
the flexibility to create a structure that's more appropriate for the landscape and climate they're in.
"One of the things that's being recognized is that the design practice, knowledge, and theory of
the global north is not appropriate for the emergent and the historical circumstances of the global
south," Fry says. "We have to consider, who are we designing for and what are the consequences of
what we design for them?" -Tegan Jones

The IKEA-designed Better Shelter
was named the Beazley Design
of the Year 2016. The lightweight
frame is made from galvanized
steel. The expected lifespan of
the structure is three years in
moderate climates.

perspective

iida.org/perspective

Expired Passport
In March, British Prime Minister
Theresa May triggered Article
50, officially beginning the twoyear process that will see the
United Kingdom secede from the
European Union. In anticipation of
this move, architecture and design
magazine Dezeen challenged
designers to rethink the British
passport, which currently
designates the United Kingdom
as an EU country. The winning
entry of the unofficial competition
was designed by Scottish graphic
designer Ian Macfarlane.
According to Dezeen founder
and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs,
who chaired the competition,
what made the winning entry so
powerful was its ambiguity. "It can
be read as representing a smooth
transition, a nostalgic return, or an
ominous darkening," he says.
In April, the U.K. government
issued a formal £490 million call
for the design and production of
a new passport. The official new
passport for a post-Brexit United
Kingdom will be issued in 2019.

http://www.iida.org/perspective

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2017