Midterm Review
I am so flattered that the model for this review was discovered, selected and posted on the online publication ‘Architecture Models'. The account has a reach of 109K followers with work from practices and students from around the world.
The panel was led by senior tutor, Tania Lopez Winkler with Sylwia Poltorak and Lucas Lawrence (Studio Egret West) as our guest critics. This was a midterm review where I presented the initial design scheme and self defined brief to the panel of external critics. My design scheme for 25 Bowater Road admittedly came quite late, as I spent the majority of the past few weeks defining the brief and conducting participatory/observational research. During my time working in New York, I also noticed that the women and mothers of young children had more emotional, and familial responsibilities in terms of housework, involvement with school events, and even party planning in the office. I was always amazed by them because they had the ability to balance work, and family, all the while being the smartest voices in the room. Additionally, after speaking to school children and their parents by the buses next to The Greenwich Trust Secondary School and the Windrush Primary School, I came to the conclusion that I wanted my project to be about creating conditions to alleviate the burden of the mothers of young children. Although my intervention cannot address the gender imbalance as effectively as organizing and policy making, I believe that even small actions can make a difference, and I remain committed to seeking ways to use my skills and expertise to bring about positive change.
For mothers of young children, achieving economic empowerment depends on having access to affordable and flexible childcare that is designed with empathy. Unfortunately, the average cost of childcare is currently £32,000 per annum, and this expense is only worsened by rising energy bills and inflation at 10.5%. As a result, women are finding it increasingly difficult to stay in the workforce as their earnings are not keeping up with the cost of living. This exacerbates an existing problem of women being forced to leave the workforce to care for their families. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of women who dropped out of the workforce to look after their family increased by 5% in the last year. Many mothers are looking for ways to increase their earnings, such as changing jobs, increasing their hours, or taking on additional work. However, lack of childcare is a major barrier to their success, with 49% of mothers saying that it is preventing them from working more hours. Moreover, 68% of mothers report that their careers have stalled after having children.
My vision for the ground and first floor of the Junction Box is to create a versatile space that can be used for care outside of school hours. This multi-use area will be designed to respond to changing needs and will feature elements that encourage both activity and relaxation. This project site is already strategically located near existing networks of schools, play areas, and other community spaces, making it a convenient and accessible place for families to spend time together. The ground floor has an indoor running track, meeting rooms and workstations that are scattered throughout the space, with place spaces sandwiched between them. Upstairs, there is a double height atrium, a communal kitchen, and multipurpose space. The idea is that parents can work, and take turns to play with children within their immediate proximity.
The conversation was productive and useful. The project is reaffirming to me that we can transform the dominant mode of design from luxury in the interest of capital to design as direct aid in the interest of many. Rather than being confused with styling, design should be viewed as a means to address complex problems. Designers are uniquely positioned to create systems that operate outside of government or market conditions, delivering material change faster and more effectively. By operating informally and democratically, designers can participate in efforts of solidarity and create bottom-up networks of care that put production in the hands of everyday people. These action items and ideas really stuck with me and will form the basis for the next step of the project:
How do you define play? Why do children want to play here? How you balance the needs and wants of parents and their children?
How do you exchange knowledge? What activities can you program into the space to encourage the exchange of skills and ideas instead of payment?
The current project is aimed towards as specific class/wealth demographic that assumes the type of work that allows for hybrid policies. This building will not be particularly useful to shift workers, teachers, nurses etc. To what extent are you maintaining the status quo, how are you lifting all women up?
Danish/Scandinavian play/childcare systems.
