Building Laboratory : Improving social and environmental equity

A problem with the city is that urban development, for the last decades, has neglected the human scale. Since capitalism and modernism the focus has shifted towards the modern man, a new rational being separated from nature rather than nature being an ever present part of life. Adopting an architecture where form follows function. Focus is on designing for the market and economy which has generated a culture of consumption and capitalist cities plagued by environmental issues and social inequality and cities are not fulfilling essential needs of a big portion of the people living there. Our culture and cities have ecological ramifications that extend beyond its borders disrupting the very basic needs of human life. Architecture must be designed for the collective rather than the ego. Rather than the few designing for the many, people should be a part of the making and remaking of the city and society. Design and architecture should rediscover our place in ecosystems and learn from nature how to adapt and be transformable. It should be inclusive, participatory and comprehensive to improve resilience. Building laboratory explores how design and architecture can become mutalistic by including, teaching and learning from the inhabitants. Constructing by using simple strategies and local material.