Designing for Dignity

Naheed Dosani, a palliative care doctor, Tweeted in 2014: “Equality is giving everyone a pair of shoes. Equity is giving everyone a pair of shoes that fits.” Many architects, designers, urban planners, and civic leaders are beginning to think more about equity in housing. How do we ensure healthy and thriving communities through housing that fits the diverse needs of all people?

Our systems are built on inequities that can be seen in the built environment. Housing that is built away from amenities, or is designed without health, safety, and well-being in mind adversely affects residents’ quality of life. To achieve social equity, housing and houselessness can’t be met by building just any affordable homes or just any housing facilities or emergency shelters. At the root, the housing crisis requires a solution that meets inequity with tailored solutions, using innovative design, fundamental best practices, and streamlined information-sharing in a way that centers people and promotes dignity.

The idea of designing for dignity came out of the movement to provide accessibility for people who could not access places, products, and services in a safe, equitable, and dignified way. Generations of architects have developed the idea. In 2017, architect John Cary wrote about dignity in design in the book Design for Good, discussing how architectural design has often ignored the majority of occupants and focused on the privileged. He notes that the places we live and work shape the perceptions we have of ourselves, for better or worse.

“Dignity,” he writes, “is about knowing your intrinsic worth and seeing that worth reflected in the places you inhabit.”

Designing for dignity is about empowerment. Victor Body-Lawson, a Nigerian-born architect and educator, has led a few major design construction projects based on empathy and empowerment. The founder of New York City-based Body Lawson Associates, Architects & Planners, a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Body-Lawson is known for collaborating with disenfranchised residents to help them conceive inspiring housing communities that fit their needs.

In 1998, for instance, he took residents from a rundown housing project in the Bronx on a tour of more vibrant public housing. The residents were able to use the experience to inspire a renovation of their own building in collaboration with Body-Lawson into housing with parks and playgrounds and welcoming lobbies, hallways, and buildings. The empowering experience of engaging in the process led some residents to join their new buildings’ management staff and continue to improve their community. But the act and execution of creating meaningful housing also helped them redefine themselves in a positive way.

Body-Lawson’s recent projects include a 2021 mixed-used affordable housing project called The Peninsula, designed in collaboration with WXY Studio. It includes retail shops, a job training site, a business incubator, and plaza—all designed to encourage human interaction between all occupants. Body-Lawson himself provided abstract art he created to help brighten spaces.

Linked to the concept of designing with dignity is the concept of Housing First. Transitional housing like Freedom House provides temporary housing while clients find stability. The Housing First approach places people in housing as a first step. The housing comes with optional support services, but its main focus is getting people into a home, taking away the anxiety around houselessness first so that it’s easier to focus on other needs such as mental health services.

A four-year study called the Chicago Housing for Health Partnership, released in 2008 showed that moving people without a home quickly into permanent housing could improve lives in a more immediate way and consume fewer public resources.

As architects work with developers to address the housing shortage, Designing with Dignity and Housing First are some concepts to consider. With those concepts comes the need to specify the right materials for the project. Mass timber and light-frame wood offer biophilic benefits, and those benefits translate to projects that serve marginalized populations struggling to obtain and retain housing. Projects that need to go up quickly but still have to provide durability, sustainability, and aesthetic appeal can utilize mass timber and light-frame wood as a flexible solution. And as modular wood construction continues to evolve, the opportunities for more cost savings and timeline reductions continue to grow.