The International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the Qatar Red Crescent are set to receive 27 tents designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) to serve and support displaced populations. The donation is made by the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, and its human and social legacy program, Generation Amazing Foundation. The news was announced during the opening of a ZHA-EAA tent inside the FIFA Fan Festival in Doha, and it represents part of the country’s effort to ensure that the World Cup has a positive lasting effect after the closing of the tournament.
Three of the tents have already been deployed to Pakistan and Turkey to be used as schools for Pakistani and Syrian children. Out of the fifteen tents sent to Turkey and Yemen, ten will be used as schools, and five will become health clinics. In Syria, twelve structures donated by Qatar Red Crescent will be used as shelters for displaced communities.
The Education Above All Foundation estimates that more than 70 million people are displaced in their own countries and living as refugees, with half of them under the age of 18. This prompts a critical need for suitable infrastructure to serve as temporary housing, shelters, medical centers, and classrooms for displaced children and their families. Zaha Hadid Architects have joined the effort to provide versatile and suitable spaces for play, learning, and development for these communities.
The ZHA-EAA tents are designed to take advantage of natural daylight and protect against the weather. The structures are modular, and easy to transport, assemble and disassemble in various locations. They also contain upcycled and recycled elements. The cost-effective and light structures use a fabric envelope to adapt the architectural system to the various necessities of the chosen program.
We have a like-minded partner in Education Above All who is committed to investing in innovative design for the better good of disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. Together, we developed a robust, cost-effective, and lightweight modular architectural system with a fabric envelope to build structures that can be adapted in many variations to meet the conditions and lives of displaced children and children on the move. We hope that these newly donated tents will bring safety, learning, and play to thousands in Yemen, Syria, and Turkey.
- Zaha Hadid Architects’ Project Architect Gerry Cruz
Recently Zaha Hadid Architects has revealed the design of a masterplan for Odesa 2030 that employs reusable pavilions. These are configured to be transformed into a fair exhibition hub after the closing of the Expo, while the proposed national pavilions are designed to be dismantled and redeployed as new civic buildings throughout Ukraine. In collaboration with Architects 61, ZHA has also unveiled the design for a new Science Center in the Jurong Lake District, Singapore.
