٠ ... Intro

Film and media industry portrays aliens as out of normal creatures, that are -in most scenarios- threatening human existence. This industry fantasizes aliens as fictional characters and as a dystopian model of entertainment. Aliens are often perceived as non-human, un-known, or real yet vague. Though, in many corners on land many humans are classified as aliens, by the use of language and due to their lived reality. Starting from peolple who are living a refugee experience, they are called ‘aliens1’. This expression is used in policy texts, and this alienation is materialised due to the fact that the ‘alienated’ carry an ‘alien’ document, not a ‘normal human’ passport. Alien document carriers are cut off from certain rights on land, seas and even in the wide angles of the outer space.

Other humans with other type of experiences and life conditions are alienated too, but this research focuses in specific on figures who are alienated and experience an emotional , physical, psychological and mental distress caused by past traumas or heavy life experiences in later life. I was skeptical to target my attention in this research towards alien classified individuals, because fighting the alienation stigma is a draining process. As experienced personally, the term ‘refugee’ as an ‘alien’ is often portrayed as an ‘identity’, rather than just an ‘experience’ that in principle could happen to anyone. In addition, ‘aliens as victims’ is mostly approached as a given. It is undeniable that for a certain time or maybe a condition, alienated people are victims of their realities, but later the imposed victimization even lasts longer. If someone -an alien- does not perceive or live their life as a victim, with a victim version of ‘self’ and state of ‘mind’, still in certain conditions they are still labeled as victims.

After five years of living with the ‘alien’ wor(l)d, I thought that the stigma, limitations and the burden of this reality would dissolve into the developments

1 Refugee: under the terms of the Convention: an alien who is a refugee within the meaning of the Convention on Refugees and to whom its provisions are applicable. Alien: any person who does not have Netherlands nationality and who is not treated as a Netherlands national by virtue of any provision of law. Page: 3. Source: Alien Act 2000 - Human rights library.

and achievements I pursue. But not at all, the unseen top-down imposed burden of such reality is still oozing. Often I was invited to participate -especially recently- to talks, interviews and brainstorming sessions about ‘inclusivity’ and the ‘alien’ designer life challanges, since it is a hot topic in the art, design and architecture world, in the last period. Most of the people curating, organising or initiating those talks do not stem from the targeted group; the aliens, and have limitted accessibility to the nature of such alienated realities. Thus in many times, it seemed that those initiatives and talks are more likely to serve for ‘ticking the inclusivity boxes’ or having inclusivity reports done. In my experience, as a designer, and the experiences of many others around me with the same situation, the realisation of those inclusive attempts in numerous cases failed (ex: career opportunities for skilled individuals, asylum related programs.. etc). In past experiences where there were attempts to include, willingly or unwillingly the ‘victimisation’ card was used. In many cases it was used for advertisement purposes, unfair paid labor...etc.

According to UNHCR reporting the impacts of COVID-19, 85% of the world’s people with an alien refugee experience -especially women-, hosted in developing nations, largely depend on humanitarian aid or day labor. Many are thrust into losing their basic rights and wide ranging impacts of alienation, including mental ones2 .

There has always been, still ,and will be many people living an alienated reality, whether it is a refuge experience or other forms of alienation. Herewith, is a humble effort to dive into the depth of this stressful reality NOW, and investigate futures regulating its troubling burdens, LATER. This is by relying on understandings of architecture and human biology. On the long run, the alienated ones that live a trauma body, are in a hazard of living with chronic stress. The trauma body is activated when we are experiencing the past in the

2 COVID-19 pandemic worsening gender inequalities for refugee women and girls , UNHCR Malysia 2021. Source: https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/news/press/2021/3/604524674/ covid-19-pandamic-worsening-gender-inequalities-refugee-women-girls.html

present moment. Our physiology changes as the nervous system is activated, hormones -like cortisol and adrenaline- are released and the body preparing to fight or flight. Living in this fight-flight mode for long periods is living with chronic stress. Here, the experience of dystopia is localised in the bodies and environments of millions living traumatic events, emotional abnormal distress and conflict. While they experienced it in their lives, others continued with a ‘normal’ life. A real life experience of a dystopia is living the death in such realities; living the death of ‘your rights’ and of ‘your opportunity in experiencing life’; This is a closer look into dystopias, rather than the alien film and entertainment dystopia.

Knowing that things are always changing, I am not looking for an end stage, or an ethereal solution. I am wondering about processes and fabrications that allow us to keep improving. We feel good as we are able to expand our capacities. And for humans as social species, to expand our capacities, often mean that we are creating new things together and that we are winning. This research is performed to investigate chronic stress for alienated figures, through an architectural lens and understanding of our biology. The body-person cannot be studied apart from their surroundings, So:

What wields itself as a chronic stress body?

What is a normalised architecture body?

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To what extent do architectural surroundings guide and regulate emotional stress?

Can architectural inflection of joy emotions and innovation, be calibrated precisely in creating caring environments?