Refugee Design

During the lecture in class today, Dr. Bruce Becker informed us to the issues of design that are not commonly attended to by most designers.

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

Dr. Becker's lecture was one that was groundshaking for me and many of my classmates, as much of the design that has been ok to practice in the last 50-100 years now needs to address the greater good, the greater population. When I take a look at great design that is from 50 years ago or more, the majority of design that is written in the design historybook is that of high design, or design for the upper crust of the economic spectrum. Is it ok to still design for these user groups? Can a designer's work be only what you want to design, or is that no longer a politically correct option for today's designer? There are so many questions that I have, and it is as if my study in the past two years has been uprooted and turned upside down. I have strong opinions that design should be the expression of an individual. However, the individual poetic expressions of a designer may not solve world hunger and famine, not make life easier for refugees and survivors of natural disasters. I realized through the lecture and the resulting conversations throughout the day that design must be a combination of the two: interest and need. One cannot design well for that he is not passionate about, and socially responsible design requires a need, a problem which is to be addressed.

The journey through design here in the ID department has been a forever changing and blind path for me. What is relevent today in design may not be tomorrow, and needs will change with the coming times ahead. How can one deal with all this change in need?

One inspirational couple that I have come across in my search for design that is accessible to many is that of the two residents,Mikey Sklar and Wendy Tremayne of Green Acre in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The work that this couple does with accessible materials and low-tech construction methods is some that I feel could be used in other applications that are not being explored in situations such as extreme climates and global warming. Their eco-friendly approach of using recycled and natural materials is also one that is ready for those who do not have access to machinery or modern manufacturing.



In this next video, they take used shipping containers and turn them into housing and storage with use of insulation materials and basic supplimentary finishes.