Design for Fragility

Esther Charlesworth is Founding Director of Architects Without Frontiers (AWF), the largest design not-for-profit agency in the Asia Pacific region. Esther is also Professor in the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University, Melbourne, where she founded the Master of Disaster, Design, and Development program degree (MoDDD).John Fien is Professor in the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne. He has led large-scale climate and sustainable development education projects for organisations that include UNESCO, UNEP, and WWF in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

"Confronted with the intersecting crises of climate breakdown, rising authoritarianism, increasing social inequalities and mass migration, the architectural profession urgently needs to look to new ways of working. Design for Fragility provides very useful insights into how more responsible and equitable design might unfold within current precarious conditions."Jeremy Till, Professor of Architecture, University of the Arts London"Designing for a fragile world inherently means designing for dignity and hope.These outstanding projects testify of how humanitarian architecture upholds the values of our profession, linking entire communities to the prospects of better lives. Whether these are schools withstanding floods or cyclones, maternal wards welcoming newborns in healthier conditions or designing shelter for refugees or indigenous populations, all contribute to building pathways to protect and empower the most unprivileged.The book is a source of inspiration of what can be achieved despite disasters and crises. As long as the problems remain endless, so do the solutions."Sandra D’Urzo, Humanitarian Architect"Design for Fragility offers a wonderful selection of projects that exemplify that people-centered design is more than a tool and, that when it is implemented in ‘fragile’ contexts, it can provoke change, enhance dignity, and promote inclusion. The diverse typology of projects and the reflections of the architects regarding their design process and methodologies which delve into achieving community involvement, offer a useful and relevant guide for future professionals of the built environment that want to make a difference through their work."Dr. Carmen Mendoza Arroyo, Director of the Master of International Cooperation Sustainable Emergency Architecture "In the introduction to this book, Brett Moore, Global Shelter Cluster Lead queried ‘Why aren’t architects active in these issues? Has our social agenda been lost?’ The authors - Esther Charlesworth and John Fien - are ideally qualified to assemble their positive answer to this challenge by including thirteen well selected examples of architectural projects under the themes of children, health, housing and justice. Beautifully designed and illustrated, Design for Fragility is a welcome companion to Esther’s 2014 landmark text: Humanitarian Architecture. The result is essential reading for any architect, landscape architect and planner with a concern to meet acute needs by the application of their compassion, skills and experience to the deepening problems of social displacement and the scale and complexity of reconstruction."Professor Ian Davis, author of Shelter after Disaster (1978)

• Introduction  1. Design for Fragility and Children  2. Design for Fragility and Health  3. Design for Fragility and Housing  4. Design for Fragility and Justice  Epilogue  Humanitarian Agencies and People