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The Integrated Society

Part 2 Project 2012
Jake Barrow
University of Huddersfield | UK
Set within a context of unprecedented global change and social upheaval, this body of work finds itself at the heart of a struggle which has struck the core of developing countries around the world. Trapped in an unrelenting push towards a modern globalised society (and hampered by the corporate needs of the construction industries who drive it), local populations are increasingly finding themselves isolated and devoid of a functioning urban domain to facilitate the diverse array of transitional, social, cultural and micro-economic requirements.

The Integrated Society becomes the physical response to an in-depth research process which originated during a year spent living and working in the rapidly evolving metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Discovering a disturbing environment of fragmented and increasingly polarised social predicament occurring as a direct result of the city’s emerging construction output a theoretical agenda was established, aiming to utilise design as a tool for the integration of all society into a unified development plan.

Through intensive design exploration, this mixed-use, socially focused and transitional agenda evolved into a coordinated urban ‘DNA’ strategy which places society at the core of a sustainable and economically progressive framework for the future. Literally speaking the framework becomes the defining entity of the integration process, facilitating urban evolutionary requirements through predefined spatial allocation and connective social responses.

Utilising an integrated modularised cycle, the spontaneous requirements of society become incorporated into a timeless urban fabric where layers of interchangeable public spaces and a diversity of building fabric combine to galvanise and rejuvenate the surrounding context. Through the provision of a previously unimaginable, modern, dynamic and vibrant social setting, human diversity is set to flourish whilst actively embracing an increasingly high density reality.

Ultimately, through this rationalised response, ideas, solutions and theoretical strategy find themselves intertwined in an exhibition of architectural revolution, where principles of socio-cultural enlightenment, rapid economic progression and physical urban co-ordination become enshrined within a thought provoking evolutionary framework for the future.

Jake Barrow

Tutor(s)
Mr Gerard Bareham
2012
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