The research portion of the Addis Ababa Living Lab involves the participation of multiple segments of the academic realm. Although the PhD work packages may serve as the primary groundwork behind the project, additional architectural courses also contributed to significant investigation of housing conditions in Addis Ababa. For this very purpose, the TU Delft department of Architecture and Dwelling built design studios and research seminars specifically tailored towards ethnographic themes of the conditions of housing settlements in Ethiopia, resulting in significant data to compliment the research findings of both doctorate dissertations. Both provided classes, Global Housing Graduation Studio as well as the Global Housing Research Seminar, present a masters-level curriculum led by professionals with expertise in social housing projects, many of whom are part of the Addis Ababa Living Lab consortium. As courses that set focus on social, economic, and environmental aspects of the affordable housing theme, these master-level classes not only serve to carry out parallel research supporting the progression of PHD1 and PHD2, but also offer crucial design input for the upcoming developments of the Pilot Project. Whether through design proposals for alternative housing solutions or via innovative visual techniques for ethnographic studies, both courses enabled the creation of content that composes a significant portion of the research within the Addis Ababa Living Lab project, successfully bridging collaboration between academic and research practices.
Graduation Studio
As one of the specialization options for TU Delft master-level architecture students, the Global Housing Graduation Studio is a year long research-focused course that engages with pressing issues regarding dwelling and urban concerns in cities experiencing rapid urbanization. With primary attention to the concerns of rapid demographic growth, the course seeks to tackle the many challenges of sustainable and fair urban development. Looking into urban renewal and redevelopment programs in Addis Ababa specifically, the course raises awareness on how the current systems of affordable housing production require urgent change, bringing attention to the negative effects of current relocation programs, which often uprooted people’s network of neighborhood-based social and economic ties. The course challenges students to design alternative housing solutions specifically tailored for resettlement dwellers in the Ethiopian capital.
