October 2014

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 oct 2014

The concept of 'open source' is finding relevance in the field of architecture. Open source is bypassing the 'starchitects' and portfolio projects, and providing alternatives by facilitating sharing and collaboration between people as they design and build. It is utilized particularly to build good quality housing for the large population that live in urban slums and will provide housing to the evergrowing population that migrates to the cities. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that by 2030, five billion people will live in cities. According to Alastair Parvin, co-founder of Wikihousing Project, right now the world's fastest growing cities are the self-built cities such as Rio's favelas. There are number of collaborative projects and organizations around the world that are focusing on open source architecture to build sustainable housing - Duplicable City Center by One Community and a number of projects by Open Architecture Network, an online community of design professions. This quote from architect Stephen Gardiner describes the philosphy of good design - 'Good buildings come from good people, and all problems are solved by good design.' Read on...

Sourceable: Open Source Architecture Offers Good Design Where Needed
Author: Steve Hansen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 oct 2014

An exhibition, 'Burst Open' at The University of Queensland in Australia, challenges the notion 'good design is both elitist and costly' and explores architecture and design from the perspective of the emerging global phenomenon of open-source. John de Manincor of the architecture department at UQ said, 'Burst Open' explored how information sharing related not only to the design of objects but to architecture and the built environment. Collaborating curator of the exhibition, Christian Duell, said that critics often labelled today's design as expensive and elitist, viewing the modern day designer as someone operating in a 'bubble' of isolation. The open-source concept provides free access of product designs through online platforms where designers post their work for public and also collaborate with one another. Read on...

The University of Queensland News: Open-source design to redefine architecture?
Author: NA