Refuge(e)

I am just a number in another world…different completely from the world that I came from.
- Hasan, Syrian Refugee
I hope the war stops and that we can go to our house and our family.
- Rama, age 10, Syrian Refugee
REFUGEE: ​a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster

REFUGE: a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble
​Coursework this semester will focus on the development of useful shelter, resources, and infrastructure that can be successfully deployed in response to the current refugee crisis in Iraq and Syria.  The goals of this work are twofold, to house refugees in their displacement (without a home) and to speculate ways to help these same people re-inhabit the homes and communities they have left.  Through this work, we will have the opportunity to explore architecture as a HUMANITARIAN tool – architecture that supports, strengthens, and heals PEOPLE in need. 
To explore the complex issues of this crisis and propose relevant solutions, the CCE Architecture Studios have been divided into collaborative teams.  Each team was assigned a "city of conflict" that students identified as a critical urban setting for the refugee crisis.  The Architecture Design II and Practicum studio teams were then combined and tasked with developing a professional identity as an architecture firm.

Project 01: Refugee Camp

As families are forced from their homes, few options remain in the region for shelter and a stable life.  As a result, many families fleeing the violence, oppression, and genocide are forced to seek shelter in refugee camps.  Shedding culture and tradition in the name of efficiency and survival, the refugee camp becomes a difficult world of loss, questions, and uncertainty.  Each team designed a camp inspired by their assigned city of conflict while following United Nations camp design guidelines.  This was done to provide refugees with a culturally, socially, and geographically familiar environment in which to live that also ensured safety and security.  Students were challenged to discover ways that urban planning and architecture can play a role in efforts to re-think the design of refugee camps.

Project 02: Building Community

After spending years struggling in the uncertain world of refugee camps, many families are now able to return home as their cities are liberated and a sense of peace settles across the landscape.  What awaits these refugees as they return home?  The uncertain world of the refugee camp is replaced by a familiar but utterly destroyed world that they used to call home.  The question these former refugees have to ask is, ‘what now?’  Students used this project as an opportunity to investigate and answer that question by designing housing and community resources to support refugees as they return home.  Students were challenged to use architecture for urban recovery, repairing physical and emotional aspects of a community, and facilitating a rebuilding process.

Student Reflections

Upon project completion, each student was asked to reflect on the impact that this project had on them and what they valued about this experience.  Their responses are shown in the video below.  Many thanks to the Career Center East Audio/Visual department for their support in making this video for our public exhibition.