Syrian R efugee Alex
Holt
- LA 403 Fall 2 015
Background Since 2011, Syria has been in a constant state of disarray. Civil war has erupted and many innocent people have been caught in the mix. Approximately 250,000 people have been killed in the four and a half year dispute. Over 4 million people have fled Syria to take refuge in nearby countries. This creates conflict because the process to be fully accepted into a country’s system can take years. Refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon have absorbed the majority of these refugees. Because of the intensive and long process of being accepted as a citizen, many refugees find themselves residing in these camps for many more years than they expected, lacking a home, sense of safety, proper facilities, and a purpose. Designing for these camps must take these struggles into consideration to provide a temporary or permanent homes for refugees.
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The Nasib Crossing between Jordan and Syria seems an ideal place to set up a new refugee camp. It’s recently opposition controlled and near farmlands and urban areas that may provide easier access for the transportation of resources.
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Mission Looking at successful camps in Turkey, such as Kilis, provides an excellent precedent to strive towards. These camps lack problems, such as rape and sexual assault, a plague that many refugee camps face. Many amenities and safety features, such as locking doors, indoor plumbing, and kitchens are lacking in refugee camps but can provide a revitalization of a person’s humanity and sense of security.
Social Impacts
While these camps provide physical amenities, many refugees feel their lives are serving no purpose, a problem when some have been living in these camps for up to 5 years or more. Providing services in the camp that does not require citizenship will help alleviate this strain and allow these people to participate in their community more.
Transitioning from short term to long term residence is another factor to consider in the design of these camps. By providing kinetic areas where only the framework is provided, permanent residents can stake a claim to portions of this land and create homes. This creates sections of people who are at the same level of transition and a better sense of stability in their lives.
Returning a sense of community to refugees is important to minimizing criminal behaviors and providing a support system of people who have experienced similar tragedies. Also, by providing services that can be managed in the camp, such as stores, schools, medical facilities, gardens, and councils, people will have a returned sense of purpose because they are helping to better the camp and its residents.
Design Elements An important part of refugee camp design is being modular for easy set-up, rebuilding, and relocating. A major component of this is deciding on tents or pre-fabricated homes. For this project, I decided to utilize the QuickHab housing system. These buildings are lockable, customizable, energy efficient, have connections for basic utilities, ship flat, can last for over 20 years, and can be pieced together in a few hours. Each house also has a shower, toilet, kitchenette, and hot water. These units come with Central Service Units that can provide electricity from solar power, clean potable and gray water, can be outfitted to provide wifi, cable and telephone services for up to twenty units. Another feature I felt was important about these homes was the design in relation to the street. They are designed to be a small front porch which I feel could provide a stronger sense of community similar to the Mayberry days. By providing a hangout that faces the street, community members are constantly watching out for one another.
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In this situation, the social issues associated with refugees led the design and its focus. The first element was the decision to use the QuickHab units because they provide amenities that lower the risk of sexual assault and can provide a better sense of home than because of their ability to be customized. The houses are situated in grids that have the front porches facing the street to deter illegal behaviors. This created a modular neighborhood that can be extrapolated to hold as many people necessary. Larger amenities, such as schools, medical centers and grocery stores are placed in proportion that ever 2 or 3 modules (approximately 3,000 people) have a grocery store and every 9 (approximately 9,000 people) have two schools and a medical treatment facility. Four green spaces are built into each module for gardening or other outdoor activities. This setup allows for a community to be built on several different levels, starting from each individual unit, to those surrounding the green space and in a single module and expanding from there to the entire camp.
Developable Spaces
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Green Spaces Endings Being torn from your home by war and being put on waiting lists for citizenship to aid countries is devastating. Some refugees will end up restoring their lives in a different country quickly while others must wait relentlessly in refugee camps. Designing these camps to have the ability to become home and providing opportunities fofr refugees to provide to society is just the beginning of aid needed to replace their homes. Ensuring the well-being and safety of over four million people is a burden all people should be sharing so that they may return to their lives as quickly as possible.
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