I liked designing hospitals because of the complexities involved. The many things going on simultaneously, logistic problems, unusual spatial requirements.. In the case of office buildings (and all too often, school buildings) there's unfortunately nothing going on.

That kind of project expects from you a thorough and profound research, of the place's real necessities and the situations of the people involved.

In '73 I was in Bahia, working in the favelas of Alagados. Working to help.

The plans, that I took to Salvador, were traditional plans of an architect who gets a report from a sociologist, and then starts making housing layouts. It had nothing to do with reality. When walked in the favela, I admired the creativity of the people and their lack of fear in doing things themselves. There were many shops, beauty salons, a school for infants and even a tower structure. While no body was helping them, they were coping. 

I immediately noticed some structural mistakes. Some houses were already leaning over, being held by another, or by improvised suspension. So I thought, here I am, having the knowledge I can help a lot just by spreading it..

I saw a man cutting wood with a toy-like saw. I asked him if he´s building his house, and he answered that he’s building for everyone, and is the communities builder. He hardly had any tools. His little son, was pulling nails out of old wooden grocery boxes to straighten them out for use. So that was their building material.

I did feel ashamed.. Here I was again, calling myself an architect, and telling these people how to do things. While I had no idea what they actually needed, and what their difficulties were. They had no help from the government. A city engineer only would come and forbid things, like when the wiring was not ok..

I´ve got a job for the United Nations, in Mexico. The aim of the project was to organize the knowledge necessary to improve the skills of the artisan-builder, and find solutions for common issues in the seismic zone.  

Experience showed me that games, humor or drama must be a part of the message. The assimilation of knowledge can be assured better this way. Games can be played together and cartoons tend to be read over and over again.

During the war we had been given the game of what to do when the bombs are falling.. the effect was that when three years later the bombs were really falling, it were the children who shouted to their parents where to hide and what to do. Hearing the explosions, they even knew what kind of bomb fell.

A lifelong interest into the culture and ways of indigenous populations, led Johan to many encounters with the native tribes of Brazil. While working on the re-urbanization plan of the city Manaus, he experienced doubts about the sense of introducing our visions of organization. His fascination with indigenous architecture, was followed by a continuous research, at many different sites around Brazil, and eventually was condensed into the book: The Architecture of the Amazonian Indians  

"Why the green hell? Because in order to live there one would have to change ones way of life and that is for most people, hell."