Manifesto for accessible materialities and design in modern architecture.
I believe that specially coming from a third world country, architecture design process and materiality should be a right and accessible for every human being. A lot of people want the modern aesthetics in their homes, nevertheless it has grown to be seen as only achievable by the elíte. I believe that material should be available to everyone regardless of socioeconomic status, and prioritize locally sourced materials. Access to a quality of design should be a human right, in order to have safe, functional and beautiful spaces.
Why should our societies be content to allow our fellow human beings to starve and sleep in the rain? I especially, especially value the important architectural detail you added, that will help make democratic shelter possible: we should “prioritize locally sourced materials.” Without this detail, your manifesto has a risk of becoming only political and not architectural. Priotiziing local materials—as Yasmeen Lari, Ana Heringer, and Leon Krier, for example, have all done with such power—would make architecture more sustainable, more beautiful, more meaningful, and, most important for your manifesto, more affordable to build and to maintain. Why should we continue to support a global concrete corporate culture that is destroying the planet? Why should ship and import steel is ways that hurt the environment? And why should we accept an ugly corporate-sponsored imitation of avant-garde luxury instead of empowering local women and men, drawing upon their memories and wisdom, empowering their children?
Some things in architecture, like flowers, will always be universal because human beings are all one family, but your manifesto points the way to a happier, healthier, more beautiful world. Think globally, act locally! Design globally, build locally?
