Professor Brillembourg, Professor Klumpner, architects from ETH Zurich are normally renowned for their prestige buildings in wealthy areas, but you create your works in the ghettos where the less privileged people live. Is it also possible to get famous that way?
Klumpner: It is true that discussions surrounding architecture in centuries past focused primarily on buildings for the elite by the elite. Scarcely any architectural records have been preserved of buildings for the ordinary people. However, in the past decade social responsibility in architecture and urban design has come to the fore and has gained in prestige like never before.

What does that mean specifically?
Klumpner: More than a billion inhabitants of this planet live in slums in urban areas in the Southern Hemisphere. That corresponds roughly to the entire population of India. It is a huge challenge to create a home for these people that is fit for human habitation. This challenge concerns all of us, but particularly the future urban designers completing their studies at ETH Zurich. We wish to demonstrate the complexity of the problem to this upcoming generation of experts while also showing them solutions for sustainable urban development.

Does this represent a departure from the era of star architects?
Brillembourg: Political and demographic developments in recent decades have meant that more and more building projects where social relevance is more important than formal aesthetics are being favoured over prestige buildings. Urban design is much more closely linked to politics than we generally imagine. One could adjust the famous metaphor «Architecture is frozen music» to say «Urban design is frozen politics». The buildings that represent an urban structure embody the entire political past. If we change the «aggregate state», this will also enable further urban transition with other priorities, such as fewer prestige buildings for example.

In addition to Brazil, you are also involved in other renewal projects for slums. Are there certain features that are typical of such informally grown communities?
Klumpner: Apart from South America, we have in recent years worked in the Middle East, in North and South Africa and in Asia. Living conditions in the slums are part of a huge, complex transformation process that encompasses not just globalization but also urbanization and what is referred to as informalization. The aim here is to bring all of the informal practices in slums into a socially accepted and fixed form – for example issues of ownership, the application of the law, infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity and microeconomics in the districts. If we are to have a serious discussion about sustainability, it is essential that we include not just technical issues but also the social and cultural aspects.

To date, favelas have been seen as a dead end in social terms. Anyone who landed there didn’t get out. Will these improvement projects result in a certain degree of social mobility?
Brillembourg: Favelas are extremely dynamic places that are constantly changing. In order to find solutions that benefit as many of the stakeholders as possible, the interests of the residents have to be considered. This requires a huge amount of creativity and sensitivity. But in particular the projects are long term and represent a process, something which distinguishes them significantly from traditional urban planning projects. New transport systems are needed, for example gondolas, in order to develop the tightly-packed districts. New financing models are also necessary in order to improve the economic conditions in favelas. There is also a need for programmes for education, sports and culture in order to improve the quality of life in these areas. We look at each of the areas in great detail and develop tailored projects specific to the location. But there is no easy answer to your question.

You were joint winners once again of the Holcim Award for the community centre in São Paulo. The building towers distinctively above the huts of the favela. Is there not a risk that the building, which includes a music school, will remain a foreign object inserted by external experts?
Klumpner: First of all we would like to say that in terms of appearance this project constitutes a counterpart to the new Monte Rosa hut, where ETH Zurich also carries out research. The only difference is that this Fábrica de Música isn’t hidden away in the Alps, but at the very heart of the vibrant community of a favela where there is also a lack of a central infrastructure. Although the community centre may look like a foreign object, the building is fully accepted. It is important to remember that it is not our personal project, but one that belongs to a district with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The technologies used here have a very high informative value for the neighbourhood. For example, we expect that the surrounding houses will soon also use photovoltaics or water filters. This is why it is important to communicate successful projects, because visibility and a level of recognition are major advantages. The prize awarded by the Holcim Foundation motivates us to continue on this path.

What skills are needed in research and teaching for the improvement of favelas? What contribution does ETH Zurich make?
Brillembourg: Since as far back as 2007, we have been working on interdisciplinary research projects involved in residential construction, infrastructures and the stabilization of high-risk zones on steep ground. Instead of tearing down the favelas, we propose alternative solutions that already incorporate socio-economic aspects such as education, income and ownership from the outset. This allows us to design the construction with effective sustainability. This is something that has never been done before in urban planning, but in view of the gigantic tasks at hand in slums around the globe, it constitutes a huge market. It is not in the megacities but in the medium-sized cities of the emerging countries that we expect the greatest demographic and economic growth rates in the coming years. Consequently, it is there that the decisions are being taken today which will determine the future of our planet’s sustainability. This is why it is important to determine as quickly as possible how to work together in research projects and to realize these projects.

Urban Think Tank

Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner are Professors of Architecture and Urban Design at the Department of Architecture and jointly hold the professorship and run the architecture firm «Urban-Think Tank» in Caracas. Yesterday (Thursday 23 August) the two scientists were awarded the Global Holcim Award Silver for sustainable construction on site at the Paraisópolis favela in São Paulo. The prize money amounts to USD 100,000. Last year they won the Regional Holcim Award Gold for Latin America.