Tell It Like It Is: Conversations Between the Global North and South on Design and Community Life in Human Settlements
2022
Join a conversation between filmmakers and practitioners whose work and personal histories straddle the worlds of the Global North and South. We will explore questions of formality and informality of design and their impacts on community life, and vice versa, in human settlements. The evening will include a screening of short international documentary films that offer a glimpse of an open air market in Addis Ababa, a well organized squat of an abandoned office tower in Caracas, and Rwandan architects reflecting on their role in rebuilding their nation. The screening will be followed by a discussion moderated by University of San Francisco Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies, Tanu Sankalia. This program is also an opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges of understanding places through mediated experiences like film screenings.
Photo: Torre David, Urban-Think Tank, 2014
Panelists
Tanu Sankalia (Moderator)
Professor of Architecture, University of San Francisco
Beatrice Hati
Urban coordinator at the International Center for Frugal Innovation, ICFI (Kenya Hub)
Yesica Prado
Activist and Filmmaker
Sosena Solomon
Filmmaker of Merkato
Films
Merkato
Ethiopia, USA | 2014 | 18 mins. | Directed by Sosena Solomon
Merkato Journeys through the largest open air market in Africa, documenting the daily lives of four merchants and their interconnected relationship with the market. Thee visually gripping, poetically-felt portraits illuminate the fragile and universal nature of the human condition. The film explores the living testimonies of Hawa, the oldest woman working in Merkato; Gideon, an ex-gang member looking for redemption; Ashenafi, a young dreamer learning how to make it; Wurro, a young woman responsible for her own success. As their livelihoods are on the verge of being transformed by incoming strip malls and parking lots, this social documentary is a tribute and celebration of the people who live, work, and dream in Merkato.
Torre David
Switzerland, USA | 2012 | 22 mins. | Directed by Markus Kneer and Daniel Schwartz
Torre David, a 45-story office tower in Caracas, was almost complete when it was abandoned following the death of its developer and a national banking crisis that crippled the Venezuelan economy in 1994. Neglected for over a decade, in 2007 it became the improvised home for a community of over 800 families living in an extra-legal and tenuous occupation that many called a vertical slum.
This short documentary reveals what life was like for residents several years prior to the government’s eviction in 2014. Filmed as part of larger project by the interdisciplinary design team, Urban-Think Tank, the movie was part of a larger research and design project that resulted in a book and numerous exhibitions, including the Golden-Lion-winning exhibition at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture.
The Lo-Fab Movement: Mackenzy Vil
2015 | 4 mins. | Directed by Thatcher Bean
“Lo-Fab” [Locally Fabricated] speaks to MASS Design Group’s approach to the design and building process. On every project, we highlight and scale local innovation and ideas, hire local labor, and use local materials.
Let’s do this together. Let’s advocate to the world for a different approach that includes everyone, that gives voice to everyone, and that values the way we build as much as the finished product.
Architecture and Peace [Beyond the Building]
2014 | 4 mins. | Directed by Thatcher Bean
The fourth video in MASS Design Group’s Beyond the Building series explores the notion that architecture has the capacity to build peace. Drawing on the perspectives from MASS team members, this chapter asks how the process of building can foster dignity, as well as economic and social justice.
Partners
