Bangun - Creative Responses to Disaster in Sumatra

courses

Introduction

bangun: awake, wake up, to build a structure

The webpage is divided into sections focusing on the supporting network at UNSW, the network in the USA, Singapore, Malaysia and on the ground in Indonesia. It is devised as a link to this international network and will be refined and developed in response to their ongoing needs and the progress of the tsunami response at UNSW.

The material is the result of a real life studio workshop that has focused on creating a comprehensive model response to community wide rebuilding strategies. Efforts were directed to the tsunami relief and reconstruction in Aceh and on Nias Island, West Sumatra.

Our aim is to help impart important skills and insight into this increasingly prominent area of building and design, and at the same time support Indonesian community planners locally and actively.

Modes of engagement and learning involved an integration of individual and team efforts. Concepts developed were advanced through communication with a network of expert academics, professionals, and students from different backgrounds and international schools. Many of these we have been in contact with personally, through face to face interviews and through telephone and email.

Scope

primary relief, aid and sustainable support systems and infrastructure; land right and tenure resolution; settlement protection and upgrading; plus planning (overall area planning scenarios and local neighbourhood plot securing; land registration and management; site planning and development);

community engagement and involvement; preparing work for cash and sweat equity based building methods; micro-finance based renewable energy supply approaches; plus regional, local and family sustenance and income generation models and strategies;

sustainable infrastructure design, development and deployment, especially renewable energy based water supply, power generation and cooking facilities; renewable energy for income generation through telecom, IT and other service provision, processing, value adding and trade;

building - this will involve an understanding of locally produced solutions for shelter and habitat; conceptualising culturally responsive approaches to home; procurement and use of basic materials; assessment of off-the-shelf shelter; staged and deployable solutions already developed elsewhere;

tsunami, earthquake and cyclone responsive design and planning for shoreline, settlement, infrastructure and hinterland preservation;

productive landscapes; agriculture and pomiculture; locally sustainable animal husbandry and aquaculture; sustainable village configuration;

sharing, learning, creating and healing – working on community strengthening means of coping, empowering, educating and embracing of new futures.

Participants and Advisors

Studio Director

Peter Droege, Conjoint Professor, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Newcastle

Studio Tutor

Scott Hawken

Studio Participants

Sophie Thorley, Yun Hee Yi, Sally Rhys Jones, Bing Ho, Clarissa Halim, Bruce Wong, Carmen Masry, Adam Long, David Hart, Gary Cheung, Anthony Parrington, Helen Simpson, El Hassan Amr, Isabelle Pfaelli, Jan Golembiewksi, Jan Ly, Lee Kosnetter, Aimee Bellette, Ella Vial, Lara O'Reilly

International Studio Advisors

UNSW Studio Advisors

Paul Osmond UNSW Environmental Centre, permaculture
David Roser, Centre for Water and Waste Technology
Stephen Moore, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Nick Ashbolt, Centre for Water and Waste Technology
Rob Largent, Photovoltaic Engineering
Anthony Zwi, School of Public Health and Community Medicine

Australia-Wide Studio Advisors

Tim Price, expert on shelters and structures
Carly Garner, Oxfam Australia tsunami program officer
Paul Cowley – Director of IT Power Australia, expert on photovoltaic energy in developing countries