ARTICLE OF FAITH

摘要

My belief that architectural design has the potential to change lives, communities, and promote peace drew me towards the work of Article 25 — the built environment charity that practises the principle of the 25th Article of the UN Declaration of Human Rights that safe and adequate shelter is a fundamental human right. Almost a year ago I travelled to Patongo in northern Uganda to help build a vocational training centre for former child soldiers. I found the legacy of a 20-year civil war that has left communities traumatised, where skills, education and property have been destroyed and memories of abduction, pillage, terror, hunger, and violence are universal. Buildings thrown up during the conflict reflect desperation and fear. Coarse, steel-bar windows and solid steel doors offered a last line of protection from a hungry, marauding, coerced child army, battling themselves to survive. Patongo is a chaotic mix of African huts and inferior brick shop houses. To design a civic building here is a departure. This scheme is about creating a place to rekindle skills and nurture talent, to rebuild confidence in the community and foster long-term stability. Working with the community we realised the building should be both sanctuary and exemplar — modest but proud, simple but refined.