Bob Banghart, "ncorporating Community Needs in Sustainable Design"
Robert (Bob) Banghart, Designer and Cultural Resource Management Advisor, Curator of Exhibitions for the Alaska State Museum, Juneau, Alaska
Summary: Mr. Banghart discussed the need for community and housing designers to look at the intended use of a building as the first crucial step in the development process. Designers need to incorporate historically successful design as well as look for designs that build connections between people.
Mr. Banghart said when considering whether to speak on this panel, he wondered what his connection would be. After hearing what has been spoken at this forum, he knows that there is more than a connection. The issues of sustainability, local material development, local knowledge, use of local maintenance capacity and structures, etc. are examples of the ingenuity of human beings to solve problems. This is what we are doing anytime we are involved with designing a cultural facility or one that involves community use of space. He discussed what he considers a “disconnect between what a Native Alaskan community wants and needs and what designers typically come up with.” What is needed is a more holistic process of broad scale sustainable community design. His process for community design is to visit the villages several times and assist the community to express their viewpoints, to define themselves, and to integrate their life prior to colonization to now.
He described Alaska native past communal living style with multi-generations under one roof. The homes, utilizing local materials, served to store food as well as doing subsistence activities in. Many times he has visited homes in the villages and has to step over a seal carcass. He has wondered why the builders put carpet in these homes, because seal oil does not come out! So you wonder, what would work best? His point is that designers and builders need to determine how the building is to be used and lived in before worrying about the envelope design. A building, no matter how it is built, will not be successful if no one wants to live in it because it doesn’t fit their needs.
He discussed traditional design of homes such as winter teepees with their tightly sewed skins, the communal house with a subterranean entry and homes with underground tunnel entries. They may seem primitive but they were actually quite sophisticated and people lived sustainably in them for thousands of years until the Native people left them for colonial built homes. He illustrated several semi-subterranean structures with slides. Mr. Banghart was able to build four of these types of structures for the Alaska Native Heritage Center using concrete to make a dome, and covered it with earth then building the interiors to look like those in the slides with driftwood.
Mr. Banghart reminded us that we are to be “stewards of the moment” not “masters of the moment.” He said designers should look for a level of practicality, a level of material understanding and a level of use. Don’t start out with a plan and then try to fit the community’s needs to your model. It doesn’t work. Design needs to fit viably within the community infrastructure and foundation of use. What is the central element to the building or room? Is it the hearth such as discussed by Douglas Cardinal? What is the primary function? There are many things to look at when tasked to design or remodel a large building such as a warehouse. He showed slides of a transplanted portable building solution – the Quonset hut. The design professionals need to look for overlays of use. Communities need elder housing. How about integrating elder housing with a community cultural center? The cultural center can be the elders “living room” for them to hang out in and people can come visit them. Be creative.
In conclusion, Mr. Banghart said if we don’t look for connections and try to find sustainable, economic, practical solutions, who will? Not the government. Communities are too caught up in the day-to-day activities and just trying to keep things going. It’s got to be the design professionals who move forward with these issues.