IIDA – Perspective Fall/Winter 2019 - 10

TALK, TALK 2 DESIGNERS ON 1 TOPIC

The Gentrification Debate
By Meredith Landry

BENEDIKT HARTL,

RON VAN DER VEEN, FAIA,

founder of Opposite
Office in Munich: We are,

principal of NAC Architecture in
Seattle: I agree that gentrification is a

first and foremost, service
providers, but it's also our
job as designers to question
our role in things. That
means a designer always has
to think and act politically,
as well as
socially.
A tower
with luxury
apartments, for
example, is not
only a piece of
architecture
but a social
statement. We
have to ask
ourselves: Who
will move in
there? Who will not be able to
afford to live there? How will
that change the character of the
neighborhood?
-Benedikt Hartl
I believe it should be a
law that every new building
project must create at least 50%
social housing with affordable rents. In return, the building
owners receive twice the building rights and can, for example,
build higher. Thus, new housing with luxury apartments
would finance social housing-a win-win for the investor, the
residents, and the whole city.
Our cities are constantly changing and transforming. It is
what makes a city livable, interesting, and vibrant. But change
and gentrification often go hand in hand. You don't design in a
vacuum. Every design takes a social and political position. On
the one hand, you have your client, but on the other hand, you
also have your social conscience. As an architect or designer,
you have influence.

"

10

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What role
can designers
play in helping
to address
gentrification?

"

If a neighborhood
has a rich culture
or is historically
significant, I think
we as designers
and architects are
obligated to keep it
intact somehow.

Photo by: ©Kaj Lehner (Benedikt Hartl)

... A
designer
always has
to think
and act
politically,
as well as
socially.

"

"

political, economic, and social issue, but
it really happens before designers ever get
involved. We could build a subpar building
so no one would move into it, but that's
not what we do. Instead, we materialize
the plans that clients and cities have already devised for
these sometimes
challenged neighborhoods.
If we're really helping to change these cities
and save culturally significant neighborhoods,
architects and designers should be involved much
sooner as a part of the city planning process. After
all, gentrification can kill the soul of a place. If a
neighborhood has a rich culture or is historically
significant, I think we as designers and architects
are obligated to keep it intact somehow. And I
don't mean just by trivial gestures like decoration
or memorial plaques.
For instance, while growing up in Portland, Oregon, I lived near an urban
center called Montavilla. That's where we went to see movies, listen to music,
have our first kisses. But it
eventually fell into disrepair.
When new businesses came
in, the builders kept significant pieces of the old center
intact to keep it historically
grounded. They renovated
the historic movie theater but
kept it as close to the original
design as possible. The old
record store became a coffee
shop, but they kept the same
floors and walls inside. They
were committed culturally
to the neighborhood. And it
feels great to be there: fresh
and new, yet grounded.
-Ron van der Veen, FAIA
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IIDA – Perspective Fall/Winter 2019

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