Developed with Eleena Jamil Architect, Don Lawrence Architect, Rebel Architecture Lab, Samong Haven Bali, and Tanja Thorjussen
Taking place in three phases, An Urgent Situation invites a cross disciplinary group of architects, artists, artisans and others to explore social and ethical questions related to the travel industry.
Travel and tourism can be forces for good: opening minds, building understanding, creating jobs, supporting social development and motivating authorities to invest in conservation. However, tourism’s negative effects - environmental, economic, social, political, cultural - are also undeniable and long before the outbreak of Covid-19 have been driving industry reflection on the ethos and practices of tourism. Climate crisis, pandemic risk, legacies of colonialism and damage caused by over-tourism cannot be ignored. For a growing number of providers, “business as usual” is no longer an option.
An Urgent Situation proposes that architects and creatives can play an important role in rethinking tourism; by acting with care and concern, they can propel critical changes in the industry’s infrastructure. This project will test this proposal in theory and practice. It will ask what the futures of tourism might be, and how creative people can help transform the often negative relationships between the tourist industry, tourists themselves, and the communities and places that form popular travel destinations.
The project will look at the present-day ideologies and practices of both architecture and tourism. It will consider the meeting points of these disciplines, including issues such as global health and hygiene, carbon emissions, and impacts on local communities, cultures and ecosystems. It will identify points for action, building a speculative multi-disciplinary model for a positive, inclusive, sustainable, resilient future tourism and the role of architects and creatives within it.
The project’s third phase offers an opportunity to test the model in practice in a specific location. In this phase, participants will learn in detail about the real-life social, economic and physical challenges entailed in “redesigning the plans” of international tourism.
The Project Phases
1. Online talk series
October 2021
Completed
What might a fully positive, responsible future tourism might look like, and how innovative architectural thinking and practice might help achieve it?
2. E-community
From October 2022
Creating a manifesto for responsible and resilient development, and design proposals for sustainable, low-impact constructions to be built at Samong Haven Bali.
3. On-site residency in Bali
March 2023
Working hands-on to adapt, finalise and realise concepts and designs developed in phase 2.
The Project Partners
Don Lawrence is an award winning architect, based in Oslo, Norway. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from the Cooper Union in New York City and a Masters degree in Architecture from the Arkitektur og Designhøgskolen in Oslo, Norway. In 2013 he established Don Lawrence Arkitekt AS which focuses on projects bordering between art and architecture´s potential for to develop senses of place. For more information visit www.don-lawrence.com/index.html
Eleena Jamil is founder and owner of Eleena Jamil Architect (EJA), one of Malaysia’s leading architectural practices. Her work is founded on researching the specific social and climatic imperatives of individual briefs within their broader cultural frameworks. She was shortlisted for Dezeen Architect of the Year in 2018 and recently won the Iconic Architecture Award 2021 by the German Design Council for End-lot House. She recently led ‘About Making’, a short research project supported by the British Council that explores the roles, processes, and worldview of traditional Malay house craftsman ‘tukang’ and their relevance to contemporary making of sustainable architecture. For more information visit www.ej-architect.com
Samong Haven Bali is a development initiative aiming to create a socially responsible tourist destination with the arts at its core. Its development criteria include supporting culture, community and conservation and positively impacting the local environment and its visitors. An Urgent Situation’s theoretical and practical outcomes will directly shape Samong Haven’s future development. Samong Haven is initiated by Ketut Karya with PRAKSIS team members Nicholas John Jones and Charlotte Teyler, who met in Bali in 2017. For more information visit www.samonghaven.com
Tanja Thorjussen (b. 1970) is an artist living in Oslo (NO). Her artistic medium spans between drawing, land art, performance and art in public space. Current works focus on the mystic and spiritual in nature and bodies of water, hydrofeminism, and the science embedded in indigenous knowledge and ancient mythology. She holds a BFA from KHIB in Bergen (NO) and Parsons, The New School in New York (USA). For more information visit www.tanjathorjussen.com
Rebel Architecture Lab is an Oslo-based not-for-profit collective founded by the architects Alla Onopchenko and Ioulia Eleftheriadou. Its projects provoke action and thought at the intersection of architecture, arts, urban interventions, and social science.
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