Care: A Shelter for the Protection of Human Life

Elke Krasny, Energy and sustainability, Essay, expanding design practices, No Density, Politics and economics

Activism, Architecture, Architecture&environment, Architecture&Gender, Capital, Climate change, Developing policies, Ecological activation, Essay, Female role, History of Architecture, Infrastructure, Political & Economic Approach, Political implications, Power, Psychological Well-being, Shelter, Social consciousness, Theory, Well-being

Excerpt from AA Files 76 published by the Architectural Association.

Architecture is in need of care – dependent on maintenance, cleaning and daily upkeep to sustain its existence. From its beginnings architecture has been conceived of as a shelter for the protection of human life. Architecture protects us and therefore we care for it. By understanding architecture and care in this manner, it is possible to connect it to the concepts of social reproduction and its everyday labour as well as to the deficiency of a reproducible resources at an environmental scale. From this perspective, care in architecture is thus concerned with a ‘politics of reproduction’ – a political critique of the current struggles not only with respect to the global labour force but also within the terrain of climate change.