Micro-Institution : design and craft in education for socio-economic change for urban China migrant workers' children

Abstract

The socioeconomic condition of the urban migrant worker remains one of the most substantial manifestations of inequality in China. The ever-growing wealth and human rights disparity between urban citizens and rural farmers has multigenerational implications: endangering the migrant workers and disenfranchising the next generation, thereby engendering cyclical poverty. In contrast, the role of architecture has been limited to merely the hegemonic mechanism for sculpting the landscapes and cityscapes, limiting the role of architecture to engage in this politico-economic discourse, validly. This thesis is an example of the potential influence of architecture to transcend its reputation as mere device of the wealthy, instead seizing an opportunity to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The Micro-Institution, a unique building typology that integrates the program related to diverse economic classes: migrant students' education and the elites' study of design and the arts. The democratic intermingling of both economic classes is celebrated on an elevated platform- this artifact serves as the catalyst, delivering an environment apt for socioeconomic exchange. More significantly, the pursuit of beauty and meaning both in the level of architecture and curriculum will be the driving force to directing the role of architecture. Through visiting Compassion Migrant Children (CMC), a reputable non-governmental organization, and the Waldorf Schools during field research in Fuzhou, China, I realized that architecture could be the mechanism to synthesize the arts and economic classes, thereby pragmatically engaging in this discourse of socioeconomic injustice. The major components/players of this Micro-Institution will be migrant children, artist residents, and the public. The main program elements will be public galleries, a migrant children's arts school, artists' studios, and public space for social interaction. This "Micro-institution" will potentially serve as a starter core to further facilitate future affordable housing complex, and also as a rare physical artifact to showcase the dignity and identity of this underprivileged group. This thesis speculates that the role of architecture is greatly limited when thought of strictly as an artifact for tangible usage, and will therefore begin by attempting to use a building prototype to instigate and facilitate social changes at large.