As climate change causes ever-greater social inequalities around the world, economic, health, and migration crises are multiplying and, in turn, profoundly impacting our societies. At the heart of these phenomena, architecture plays a fundamental role: that of providing humanity’s primary shelter. And the evolution of the urban fabric now allows us to experiment with tools, models, and even regulations that, in part, address these new challenges.
An in-depth look at these eco-friendly solutions, namely the lightweight structures, sometimes fleeting, sometimes enduring, all linked to climate and social emergencies. This is a vast and rich subject, and some of its flagship projects were recently showcased at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal’s latest exhibition, “The Footprint of a Home: Building Lightweight and Carbon-Free.”.
Lightweight construction is an architectural process that combines various characteristics and advantages, including, of course, the minimal footprint of the structure, but also the use of materials such as wood or metal rather than brick or cement. The goal is to optimize construction costs, time, and quality as much as possible. In the guide to “Hybrid Structures – Flexible Structures”, René Motro, professor and director of the Mechanics and Civil Engineering Laboratory at the University of Montpellier II, states that “lightweight structures, characterized by their low weight but also because of their structural composition and numerous innovative aspects in their design and construction, they have undergone unprecedented development over the past fifty years. They offer architectural solutions that address the need to build large spaces with a reduced number of load-bearing points.”
By optimizing materials and resources, by energy efficiency or through the reduction in waste generation that they bring about; they therefore play an active role in reducing the’carbon footprint of new construction. In fact, they appear to be a sustainable solution for combating the climate crisis, at the urban scale. They also represent an affordable solution to the challenges posed by population growth in many countries and the need to build more housing. Finally, they can prove highly effective in social emergencies, as they are adaptable to various geographic contexts, cost-effective, flexible, and quick to implement. These three—crisis, growth, and emergency—are often naturally interlinked.
How do lightweight structures—and the people who design and build them—help address the major challenges facing our societies? What projects and experiments have already been launched? And finally, what timeframe or timeframes should be taken into account for this type of construction? Does an emergency solution necessarily have to be temporary, or can it be designed with longevity in mind?
Ferembal House, a demountable structure designed by architect and designer Jean Prouvé © Flickr
The Inevitable Link Between Climate Change and Social Crisis
Unfortunately, there is no longer any doubt today about the existence of climate change and its human-caused. The IPCC’s latest assessment report has only confirmed this—and even reinforced it. Moreover, the environmental, economic, and—above all—social consequences of this phenomenon are expected to manifest themselves more quickly than had been predicted in previous research and publications. The report thus warns of the current and future effects of global warming on populations and ecosystems—effects that are now widespread and, for the most part, irreversible. Food Security, health vulnerability, resource supply—the scientists behind this new document strongly emphasize the full integration of the dimension social justice as part of efforts toward ecological transition.
For example, there is a global consensus that people living in precarious or marginalized situations (people who are homeless or living in substandard housing, residing in areas with limited financial resources and lower resilience…) will be—and already are—the most affected by natural disasters. Climate-related hazards that are sure to increase in the coming decades. And these require, among other things, the establishment of emergency housing, in addition to strong, comprehensive initiatives to support the transition—led, of course, by the private, public, and civil sectors.
We have collectively weathered the health crisis and, from the very beginning of the pandemic, witnessed the the construction, in just a few days, of massive logistical infrastructure to build a new hospital in Wuhan from the ground up. Situations like this inevitably call for quick solutions, and natural disasters are no exception. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, known for his humanitarian work and internationally recognized for receiving the Pritzker in 2014, has devoted much of his career to designing lightweight, temporary structures in disaster-stricken areas. Known as “the emergency architect,” he has notably developed prefabricated cardboard shelters, the famous Paper Log Houses, to help the survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan.
The interior of a Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban in Kobe © Flickr
He also came up with the idea, along with the team from the NGO Voluntary Architect’s Network, repurposing shipping containers to create a flexible housing system for disaster victims in Onagawa. It took just 14 weeks to develop this project, which consisted of three two-story buildings and six three-story buildings that housed nearly 189 families. These ingenious solutions addressed immediate needs and also demonstrate that “dInnovative processes arise from constraints—both time-related and financial—.”
Social emergencies that can result in different timeframes
As mentioned earlier, certain situations—such as those related to natural disasters—require immediate responses, which are often short-term in nature. Other situations, however, although urgent, cannot be addressed with a purely temporary mindset. This is the case for people fleeing political regimes or the precarious conditions inherent in their countries. This phenomenon of mass migration is expected to intensify considerably with the arrival of climate refugees. It is also the case for people experiencing homelessness, for whom assistance and support cannot be limited to a short period of time. And architecture—especially lightweight architecture—naturally serves as an important lever for action.
In fact, although one of the principles of a lightweight structure is based on its agility and ease of assembly and disassembly, it can still be made permanent depending on the needs it is designed to meet. On the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, for example, there is a project initiated by the’Aurore Association and designed by the Moon Architectures and Air Architecture. The “La Promesse de l’Aube” emergency shelter was originally intended to operate for only three years. Six years after its establishment, the needs are real and as pressing as ever, and all of the wood-frame modules—which were fully prefabricated in the workshop and make up the project—are still in place.
The project was not particularly well received by local residents when it was completed in November 2016; in fact, it was the target of two arson attempts. Yet at its opening, Cyrille Hanappe, one of the center’s architects, said during a Interview conducted by Tewfik Hakem for France Culture : “There was a very high level of mutual support, with people coming to make donations, getting involved, and teaching classes. These are people from the neighborhood who were initially hostile but have since become very supportive. […] There’s a renewed focus on the issues of exile, refugees, and migrants. Perhaps with the war in Ukraine, the stronger cultural connection with certain people can help those same people understand other aspects of migrants they previously rejected. In any case, that’s what I hope.”. A temporary project that is finally beginning to make a lasting impact on the space, the landscape, and the daily lives of nearby residents and users.
Construction system for a module from “La promesse de l’Aube,” presented at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal © Lola Roy
Housing: A Tool for Resilience in Our Regions?
Although they are, unfortunately, a current issue today, these crisis situations are not new. And housing represents both the problem and the solution, for both climate and social challenges. Indeed, the major periods of reconstruction and rehousing that France, among other countries, has experienced have helped to resolve part of the housing crisis. Major postwar policies, for example, and the emergence of large housing complexes enabled hundreds of thousands of people to gain access to housing and a level of comfort they had not previously enjoyed (privacy, running water, sanitary facilities, etc.). However, from a purely environmental perspective, they can also generate significant pollution through the use of materials like concrete and the creation of large amounts of waste, thereby contributing to massive greenhouse gas emissions. Obviously, the idea is not to revisit these initiatives, which were a necessity at the time. Rather, it is to focus on the architects, workers, and humanists who were already thinking about methods, tools, and building systems capable of addressing both social and environmental challenges simultaneously.
As early as 1954, Abbé Pierre issued a call for solidarity in the wake of that infamous cold snap, which was particularly hard on the most disadvantaged. French architect and designer Jean Prouvé responded to this call by designing a prototype for a low-cost house that could be built quickly by unskilled or semi-skilled labor. The specifications provided by the founder of the Emmaus movement called for a “A standard, cost-effective two-bedroom apartment, featuring two bedrooms and a living room, with a kitchen and a bathroom”. Jean Prouvé created “The House of Better Days”, whose load-bearing structure consisted of a folded-sheet-metal beam and a central steel core housing the kitchen and bathroom, as well as thermoformed wood sandwich panels and an aluminum sheet roof, all resting on a concrete foundation. This structure was never officially approved, although it was praised by many professionals, notably Le Corbusier, who had expressed his great admiration for it: “Jean Prouvé built on the Quai Alexandre III the most beautiful house I know, the most perfect dwelling, the most dazzling structure ever built. And all of this is real—built, completed—the culmination of a lifetime of research. And it was Abbé Pierre who commissioned it from him!”.
Today, it is essential to establish concrete, sustainable, and viable connections and actions between the immediate needs arising from social crises and those—perhaps less visible but just as urgent—resulting from the consequences of climate change. Fortunately, our regions’ capacity for resilience can be mobilized in emergency situations. However, not all regions have equal access to this potential. The urban fabric and the people who envision, design, and build our cities therefore bear—along with a multitude of other public, private, and civic sectors—a share of the responsibility for this major challenge. Light architecture can, within its own scope of course, help bridge the gap between social and climate justice. And as is so aptly stated by Philippe Rizzotti, the architect behind the exhibition “The Environmental Footprint of a Home: Building Lightweight and Carbon-Free” on display at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal from October 22, 2021, to February 27, 2022: “We know how to do it; we just need to make it happen. We have a train to catch!”.
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