Late blog post, I know but it’s been on my long to do list… Ever since I discovered this project and shared it with Cheva, I’ve been fascinated by Teddy Cruz’s work.
Overall, it was wonderful to hear Teddy Cruz speak to many issues that aren’t considered in the design world. More so these terms are heard within NGOs, small business models, and local economic analogies. These weren’t new to me given I’m a fan ofMichael Shuman‘s work and Small Marts. An initiative by BALLE to gather, collect and quantify small business, local economies to combat big box economies.
Teddy Cruz is one of the rare architects I’ve heard actually speak to micro-economies and addressing the systems necessary to structure social architecture and initiate change. He considers all parcels micro-socio economic units and represented earlier in his slides a time lapse of an architecture model to convey development over time. The “living rooms” and the church began as the incubators and infill development occurs through the multiplier effect. I wish I could share it with you all as it captures the true essence of the project. It almost appears that he saw the original idea of the “living rooms” as a single development and after success, saw the larger picture of the multiplier effect vs planning the grand scheme initially.
After time, infill of the living rooms produce an assemblage as seen in the initial image.
Amazing what empowerment and ownership can do to change and incubate positive actions.
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