Humanitarian Architecture – Polish and Chilean Perspective

Abstract

Poland and Chile are located on different continents, despite this remoteness to the geographical distance they have many common features like a complicated history and today similar level of economic development. Income per person in Chile and in Poland is similar around 900 Euro per month. Of course, apart from the similarities, there are also significant differences between these countries for examples, this concerns climate, population density and cultural history. In recent years, the concept of humanitarian architecture appeared in the public space due to the interest caused by the appointment in 2016 of the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale. His message addressed to the curators of national pavilions was to define the problems facing their countries in the form of a “report from the front” and then an attempt to define actions to solve them through architecture. The nature of these issues could potentially vary widely, from food security to mass migration, from illiteracy to the polarization of social wealth. Thanks to this, the role of discussions about architecture has been reversed from studying its formal role in society towards the humanitarian role of architect in society. So, what does the term humanitarianism mean? According to the dictionary definition, humanitarianism is “an attitude characterized by respect for people and care for its good”, so it is a very broad concept that can be attributed to many issues. The purpose of this article is to present this phenomenon based on the architectural experience of Chile and attempt to describe its occurrence in Poland, to answer the question: what is modern architecture today?