How can Architecture help to build a world of solidarity?

Part of the answer can be found in the numerous projects presented here. These investigations, workshops, urban interventions and buildings are the outcomes of the work of 18 associations around the world, linked through the network of Architecture Sans Frontières
 International (ASF-Int) and dedicated to give the word “Architecture” a sense of solidarity, sustainability and social responsibility.

ASF-Int was officially founded in 2007 after eleven years of contact between a number of organisations sharing similar objectives. The aim was to establish a platform that would enable cooperation with other organisations and contribute to the global mobilisation of civil society that endeavours to face issues that governments are often unable or unwilling to cope with.

The creation of ASF-Int was the culmination of these efforts, and the joint approval of the Charter of Hasselt confirmed the common willingness to social transformation of all the member organisations “concerned with the equitable, social, cultural and environmental commitment of architecture, construction, urbanism and the conservation of historical heritages to human development” – as it is stated in the first paragraph of the Charter of Hasselt. The objectives of ASF-Int are very ambitious; nonetheless, they can be positively pursued by the means of multidisciplinary, collaborative work with other network organisations.

This portfolio is a small sample of works realised by ASF-Int’s member organisations all over the world, each of them referring to the Charter of Hasselt as a wide framework for concrete action. The shared aims are pursued through an extensive range of approaches and solutions, reflecting the creative efforts to give adequate answers to many different problems and contexts. Such a richness of the interventions and ethical standpoints contribute towards the development of a better and more accessible architecture around the world, as architecture should not ignore the poor and the underprivileged, but on the contrary serve them as a priority.

The projects presented here are technical operations, interdisciplinary experiences, collaborative efforts, but above all they are human stories, because Architecture is for human beings.

Paris, december 2009