World Architecture for Equal Dignity

Activities

A Dignity Roof, Evelin Lindner, concept developed since 1984

Evelin grew up in the countryside in Central Europe, in a rural context, in a traditional farm building many hundreds of years old. In 1977, she came to Norway, where she admired the traditional farm buildings and how they are organically embedded in the landscape. In 1984, she came to Egypt and learned about the architecture of Hassan Fathy. Read more in the section "How A Dream House Could Look Like."

Over the years, Evelin's thoughts about architecture matured. In 2021, she was inspired by scobel – Ausverkauf der Städte to make a drawing of her idea to go one step further than simply planting trees on rooftops. Why not plant trees above an entire part of town? Why not cover ugly tower-blocks under beautiful green "hills"? Clearly, this would require constructing large bows above the buildings on the ground, not unlike large airport roofs, only that the "roof" would be formed by trees. Evelin made a drawing in 2021, following a similar drawing in 1991, when she lived in Hamburg, Germany, and was inspired by the need to humanize high-rise developments in the city (see further down).

You are warmly welcome to contact Evelin and invite her to nurture this idea into practical applications together with you!

4th April 2021 Why not plant trees above an entire part of town? Why not cover tower-blocks with green hills? Buckminster Fuller comes to mind. Already in 1960, he proposed a Dome over Manhattan, a 3-kilometer-diameter geodesic domed city covering Midtown Manhattan. See also: • "A Look at Bucky Fuller's Dome Over New York City," by Lloyd Alter, Treehugger, February 8, 2021 • Dome Design Toughens with Size, Regulates Home/Garden Within, Nov 14, 2020 (thank you, dear Michael Boyer!) • "Rewilding our Cities: Beauty, Biodiversity and the Biophilic Cities Movement," by Amanda Sturgeon, The Guardian, April 4, 2021 (thank you, dear Malvern Lumsden!)
1991 Seven meters long wall covered with a painting/installation, created in 1991, containing three sections: 1. on the left: The idea to cover buildings with extremely large and flexible roofs depicted on the left side (as part of the idea to actually build the "global village"), increasingly emerges in our built environment since. The 2008 BBC programme Bionic Buildings offers interesting illustrations, for example, Kingsdale Foundation School. 2. middle: the view on Dock 11 in the port of Hamburg 3. right: Amal hayati, a song first performed by famous Egyptian singer Om Kalthoum (see the lyrics) Please click on the picture or here to see more photos.
2021 • scobel – Ausverkauf der Städte • Düsseldorfs neue grüne Mitte • ingenhoven architects
2021 Screenshot of a Google search for "rooftop trees"
2021 Screenshot of a Google search for "Hassan Fathy"
2021 Screenshot of a Google search for "Norge, gamle gårdstun"
2021 Screenshot of a Google search for "Niedersächsische Höfe"

Announcements 2008

•  Open House International: The Special Issue on Design Studio Teaching Practices, which is guest edited by Ashraf Salama is available:
Click here: http://archnet.org/calendar/item.tcl?calendar_id=44900
and here: http://www.openhouse-int.com/

•  Open House International: Call for Contributions for a Special Issue on Ecolodges and Eco-Tourism: Planning and Designing Environmentally Friendly Tourist Facilities. Guest Editor: Ashraf Salama
Click here: http://archnet.org/calendar/item.tcl?calendar_id=47660
and here: http://www.openhouse-int.com/publishing.html

Proposed Activities 2008

•  A Summer Short Course Workshop cuold be planned. This activity could be conducted by Dr. Ashraf Salama and other contributors. It could invite scholars from various disciplines who are concerned about architecture and equal dignity.

•  A Newsletter published twice a year on the website of HumanDHS Group could publicize ongoing activities. Quality contributions on the subject of Architecture and Dignity would be welcome. This A&D Newsletter could be jointly edited by Dr. Ashraf Salama.

•  An International Colloquium on "Architecture Shaping People Shaping Architecture" could take place. It could be sponsored by affiliated organizations. The result of the colloquium could be published in a post colloquium book.

Call by Ashraf Salama