Efficient Art + Architecture in a Seniors’ Social Housing Project
Photo courtesy: Doris Bilitz
There it was in the project documentation: a small allowance for special wall treatment. It was in the mid-1980s, and I was reviewing the drawings and specifications for a small seniors’ housing project. Puzzled, I asked the architect whether it was left over from the last time he had used his specifications template. No, it was meant to be there, he explained obtusely; it was effectively an art budget. Of course, it could not be called an art budget in a modest social housing project with government funding. The project board seemed happy with the notion of a special wall treatment.
Eventually, the time came to spend the “special wall treatment” allowance. An abstract wool-and-mirror hanging was commissioned for the lobby, and duly appeared. I was not sure about it, but there it was. A few years later, for a second phase, more “special wall treatment” was required and the same artist prepared another wool hanging, one featuring “life-masks” of the board members who had put so much time and effort into the projects.
The first lobby hanging is viewed as a process, as one moves along the hallway. In that way, it is rather like a mobile sculpture – the view changes, not as the art moves, but as the person advances past it, thereby seeing the changing dimensions of the piece and the reflections in the mirrors of the surroundings and passers-by.
Twenty-five years later, the wool hangings still impress visitors. The colours remain vibrant, and the design has not dated. They lift the buildings out of the ordinary – it is not just everyday basic social housing. The wool sculptures, because of their uniqueness, retain their novelty, even to the residents. The manager reports that they are sometimes the focus of complaints from her more opinionated tenants, but that, she explains with a smile, is a good indicator of resident satisfaction: “I guess if they cannot find anything to complain about, they can always comment on the art.”
Do such pieces of art have a value? At a conference a few years ago, the chief architect for the City of Melbourne, Australia, said their city council felt they received exceedingly high returns from their investments in public art – not the ever-popular “man-on-horse” variety, but interesting things that caused people to change the way they used and perceived the city, and the way they moved through it.
In this little housing project, just as in Melbourne, art has proven to be a worthwhile and cost-effective expenditure. To achieve the same impact with bricks and mortar would have involved a larger lobby, as well as better finishes and furniture – things beyond the limited budget. With the wall hangings, the cost was contained to a specific and lower amount. These pieces of elegant, thoughtful and timeless work raise the buildings from being just ordinary to being something special. It was money well spent.
with DORIS BILITZ, with a Bachelor of Administration (Health Services) and a Diploma in Business Administration, is Manager Golden Town Residential Community, Meaford Ontario, responsible for the supervision and management of approximately 120 senior citizens’ units.
with LUCINDA HARP, a graduate of the Ryerson interior design program, is an interior designer and the creator of the artworks discussed in this essay.