John F. C.

Turner

HOUSING BY PEOPLE
Towards Autonomy
in Building Environment
 Chapter 2

POLLUSION
OF
RESOURCES
Housing economy and equity can only be
achieved if households and their local
communities are responsible for what is built
and how it is used and maintained
This chapter explores……

Facts

So many houses over 400 years old are in good

condition, while so many less than 40 years old,
are already in such poor condition that they
have to be demolished.
Minoru Yamasaki
PRUITT-IGOE: Dream to Nightmare
“It was like an Oasis in a desert, all this newness,
I never thought I would live in that kind of a
surrounding.”………Rubi Russell(pruitt-Igoe
resident 1956)
Several years later
“We pulled up with the moving van……and at
that point I new it was hell on earth”………
Brian King(former resident, 1967)
Home owners loan corporation in 1933

Was only for the white

The core concept

Was the segregation between W & B
The bank would literally use a red marker
Even, white American do not get permission
to get loan to buy …………..
FHA(federal Housing Administration)
gave 98% loan to white issued in 1934 and
1962.

2% loan to white and black African

And they are restricted to purchase home in
slum areas
After World War II………………………………
In 1949,

80,000 families were living in dilapidated

tenements

Truman’s housing act of 1949

Allocated funds for 810,000 public housing

units throughout America
White

Black
White World War II returning serviceman and
their family……………………..developing suburbs

Black World War II returning serviceman and

their family……………………..slums/ghettos
Even today …………………..
public housing
Pruitt Igoe

City plan commission proposed………..

Clearing the area

2/3 storey building
Large public park
Mayor Joseph Darst……..
(elected in 1949)

In 1950, under pressure from him…..

Modernist ideas of Le Corbisier

The vertical neighbourhood

Architect Hellmuth
Architect Yamasaki
In 1952,

•North side of St Louis

•2870 Dwelling unit
•33 eleven storey building
•57 acres
•Completed in 1956
•Construction cost was very high(60% above
the national average)
•36 million dollar for the construction
•No fund for the maintenance
Yamasaki’s design for the complex included

green spaces,
paths,
Playgrounds
a drastic change for the new residents who were
coming from the slums within the city.

The Pruitt-Igoe buildings also included

shared gallery spaces with large

windows, community rooms,
skip-stop elevators fitted with brand new
furnishings for the excited first residents.
For white …. The Igoe apartment

For Black …. The Pruitt apartment

In 1956, for white and black both

GI bill for white to buy homes in the sub-

urban area

Black working group

Poor black
Reason behind massive structure,

Blame against Le Corbu

Segregation of black in the inner city
Restrictive cost guideline
To cover up the cost,

No fund for maintenance

Raise the densities
Reduce the room size(1-5 bedrooms)
Remove amenities
Only few years later,

Failure starts…….
The elevators
Freezing pipes
Running water and heat
Disrepair
vandalism
Crime took place
In the public housing history……

First 9 months rent strike

Result ,

Large no of vacancies(91% to …….

From 1956 to 1970 the cities population fell
by 234,000 people
finally,

In July 15th ,1972

At 3:32 PM

Modern Architecture died

Pruitt-Igoe today
The filmmaker suggested that ,

The design had nothing to do with the failure

that…….

There are lots of factors

Economic
Demographic
Political
architectural
Triple meaning of pollution……………………………
Relate to the 3 spheres of life

•The relationships between persons

•The relationship of interrelated persons with
their own cultural environment
•Human culture