Buildings that blend nature and city | Jeanne Gang

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Camille Martínez

I'm a relationship builder.

When you think of a relationship builder,

don't you just automatically think "architect?"

Probably not.

That's because most people think architects design buildings and cities,

but what we really design are relationships,

because cities are about people.

They're places where people come together for all kinds of exchange.

And besides, skylines are highly specific urban habitats

with their own insects, plants and animals,

and even their own weather.

But today, urban habitats are out of balance.

Climate change, together with political and economic troubles,

are having an impact;

they're adding up and stressing out cities and us,

the people who live in them.

For me, the field of ecology has provided important insight,

because ecologists don't just look at individual species on their own,

they look at the relationships between living things

and their environment.

They look at how all the diverse parts of the ecosystem are interconnected,

and it's actually this balance, this web of life, that sustains life.

My team and I have been applying insights from ecology to architecture

to see how physical space can help build stronger relationships.

The projects I'm going to show you today

use the idea of building relationships as the key driver for design.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Recently, we were asked to design a center for social justice leadership

called the Arcus Center.

They asked us for a building that could break down traditional barriers

between different groups

and in doing so, create possibilities for meaningful conversations

around social justice.

The students wanted a place for cultural exchange.

They thought a place for preparing food together could do that.

And they wanted to be welcoming to the outside community.

They thought a fireplace could draw people in

and help start conversations.

And everybody wanted the work of social justice to be visible

to the outside world.

There really wasn't a precedent for this kind of space,

so we looked around the globe and found examples

of community meeting houses.

Community meeting houses are places

where there's very specific relationships between people,

like this one in Mali, where the elders gather.

The low roof keeps everybody seated and at equal eye level.

It's very egalitarian.

I mean, you can't stand up and take over the meeting.

You'd actually bump your head.

(Laughter)

In meeting houses, there's always a central space

where you can sit around a circle and see each other.

So we designed a space just like that

right in the middle of the Arcus Center,

and we anchored it with a fireplace and a kitchen.

It's pretty hard to get a kitchen and a fireplace in a building like this

with the building codes,

but it was so important to the concept, we got it done.

And now the central space works for big social gatherings

and a place to meet one-on-one for the very first time.

It's almost like this three-way intersection

that encourages bumping into people and starting a conversation.

Now you can always pass the kitchen and see something going on.

You can sit by the fireplace and share stories.

You can study together in big groups or in small ones,

because the architecture sets up these opportunities.

Even the construction is about building relationships.

It's made of cordwood masonry,

which is using logs the way you would use bricks.

It's super low-tech and easy to do and anyone can do it --

and that's the entire point.

The act of making is a social activity.

And it's good for the planet, too:

the trees absorbed carbon when they were growing up,

and they gave off oxygen,

and now that carbon is trapped inside the walls

and it's not being released into the atmosphere.

So making the walls is equivalent to taking cars right off the road.

We chose the building method

because it connects people to each other and to the environment.

But is it working?

Is it creating relationships and nurturing them?

How can we know?

Well, more and more people are coming here, for one,

and as a result of the fireside chats

and a full calendar of programming,

people are applying for the Arcus Fellowships.

In fact, applications have increased tenfold for the Arcus Fellowship

since the building opened.

It's working. It's bringing people together.

So I've shown how architecture can connect people

on this kind of horizontal campus scale.

But we wondered if social relationships could be scaled up --

or rather, upward -- in tall buildings.

Tall buildings don't necessarily lend themselves to being social buildings.

They can seem isolating and inward.

You might only see people in those awkward elevator rides.

But in several major cities, I've been designing tall buildings

that are based on creating relationships between people.

This is Aqua.

It's a residential high-rise in Chicago

aimed at young urban professionals and empty nesters,

many of them new to the city.

With over 700 apartments, we wanted to see if we could use architecture

to help people get to know their neighbors,

even when their homes are organized in the vertical dimension.

So we invented a way to use balconies as the new social connectors.

The shapes of the floor slabs vary slightly and they transition

as you go up the tower.

The result of this is that you can actually see people

from your balcony.

The balconies are misregistered.

You can lean over your balcony and say, "Hey!"

just like you would across the backyard.

To make the balconies more comfortable

for a longer period of time during the year,

we studied the wind with digital simulations,

so the effect of the balcony shapes breaks up the wind

and confuses the wind

and makes the balconies more comfortable and less windy.

Now, just by being able to go outside on your balcony

or on the third floor roof terrace,

you can be connected to the outdoors,

even when you're way above the ground plane.

So the building acts to create community

within the building and the city at the same time.

It's working.

And people are starting to meet each other on the building surface

and we've heard --

(Laughter)

they've even starting getting together as couples.

But besides romantic relationships,

the building has a positive social effect

on the community,

as evidenced by people starting groups together

and starting big projects together,

like this organic community garden on the building's roof terrace.

So I've shown how tall buildings can be social connectors,

but what about public architecture?

How can we create better social cohesion in public buildings

and civic spaces,

and why is it important?

Public architecture is just not as successful

if it comes from the top down.

About 15 years ago in Chicago,

they started to replace old police stations,

and they built this identical model all over the city.

And even though they had good intentions

of treating all neighborhoods equally,

the communities didn't feel invested in the process

or feel a sense of ownership of these buildings.

It was equality in the sense that everybody gets the same police station,

but it wasn't equity in the sense of responding

to each community's individual needs.

And equity is the key issue here.

You know, in my field, there's a debate

about whether architecture can even do anything

to improve social relationships.

But I believe that we need architecture and every tool in our tool kit

to improve these relationships.

In the US, policy reforms have been recommended

in order to rebuild trust.

But my team and I wondered

if design and a more inclusive design process

could help add something positive to this policy conversation.

We asked ourselves simply:

Can design help rebuild trust?

So we reached out to community members and police officers in North Lawndale;

it's a neighborhood in Chicago

where the police station is perceived as a scary fortress

surrounded by a parking lot.

In North Lawndale, people are afraid of police

and of going anywhere near the police station,

even to report a crime.

So we organized this brainstorming session

with both groups participating,

and we came up with this whole new idea for the police station.

It's called "Polis Station."

"Polis" is a Greek word that means a place with a sense of community.

It's based on the idea

that if you can increase opportunities for positive social interactions

between police and community members,

you can rebuild that relationship

and activate the neighborhood at the same time.

Instead of the police station as a scary fortress,

you get highly active spaces on the public side of the station --

places that spark conversation,

like a barbershop, a coffee shop

or sports courts as well.

Both cops and kids said they love sports.

These insights came directly from the community members

and the police officers themselves,

and as designers, our role was just to connect the dots

and suggest the first step.

So with the help of the city and the parks,

we were able to raise funds and design and build a half-court,

right on the police station parking lot.

It's a start.

But is it rebuilding trust?

The people in North Lawndale say the kids are using the courts every day

and they even organize tournaments like this one shown here,

and once in a while an officer joins in.

But now, they even have basketballs inside the station

that kids can borrow.

And recently they've asked us to expand the courts

and build a park on the site.

And parents report something astonishing.

Before, there was fear of going anywhere the station, and now they say

there's a sense that the court is safer than other courts nearby,

and they prefer their kids to play here.

So maybe in the future,

on the public side of the station,

you might be able to drop in for a haircut at the barbershop

or reserve the community room for a birthday party

or renew your driver's license

or get money out of an ATM.

It can be a place for neighbors to meet each other

and to get to know the officers, and vice versa.

This is not a utopian fantasy.

It's about how do you design to rebuild trust,

trusting relationships?

You know, every city has parks, libraries, schools

and other public buildings

that have the potential to be reimagined as social connectors.

But reimagining the buildings for the future is going to require

engaging the people who live there.

Engaging the public can be intimidating, and I've felt that, too.

But maybe that's because in architecture school,

we don't really learn how to engage the public in the act of design.

We're taught to defend our design against criticism.

But I think that can change, too.

So if we can focus the design mind

on creating positive, reinforcing relationships

in architecture and through architecture,

I believe we can do much more than create individual buildings.

We can reduce the stress and the polarization

in our urban habitats.

We can create relationships.

We can help steady this planet we all share.

See?

Architects really are relationship builders.

(Laughter)

Thank you very much.

(Applause)