Tag: refugee-camps | ArchDaily

Architectures of Movement: ArchDaily's July Editorial Focus

Romullo Baratto — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Every twelve years, the banks of the Ganges at Prayagraj become one of the largest cities on Earth — and then disappear. The Maha Kumbh Mela draws over 400 million pilgrims across six weeks, requiring the construction of a full urban infrastructure: pontoon bridges, field hospitals, kilometers of temporary roads, a grid of tent cities visible from space. When the festival ends, it is dismantled entirely. No gathering in human history produces a more complete architecture of movement; built for arrival, engineered for transience, and designed to leave no permanent trace. The Kumbh Mela is exceptional in scale, but not in condition: movement has become a defining spatial problem of the century.

Nigerian Architect Blossom Eromosele Designs Refugee Shelter Inspired by Traditional African Huts

Antonia Piñeiro — Wed, 21 May 2025 04:30:00 +0000

Nigerian-born architect Blossom Eromosele has developed AllSpace, a modular housing design inspired by traditional African architecture. The design was created as part of the Swarovski Foundation's fourth edition of the Creatives for Our Future global mentorship and grant program, developed in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships. Among the six selected projects, AllSpace seeks to respond to the current Nigerian refugee crisis with a low-cost, solar-powered housing solution for camps.

MVRDV Transforms Shipping Containers into Sports and Community Hubs for Refugees

Maria-Cristina Florian — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:30:00 +0000

MVRDV has partnered with KLABU, a social enterprise based in Amsterdam, to design a modular, multi-functional clubhouse aimed at supporting refugees. This collaboration, which began in 2022, is founded on the belief that sports can play a pivotal role in helping individuals rebuild their lives, fostering joy, pride, and hope. KLABU's initiative involves constructing clubhouses within refugee camps, settlements, and urban areas, where they serve as community hubs offering access to sports equipment, activities, and connectivity through Wi-Fi and TV broadcasts.

Sumayya Vally Designs Wellness Facility in World's Largest Refugee Settlement in Kakuma, Kenya

Nour Fakharany — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 05:30:00 +0000

In collaboration with to.org, Counterspace, led by Sumayya Vally, has revealed its latest project, "Regenerate Kakuma," aimed at promoting holistic well-being in one of the world's largest refugee settlements in Kakuma, Kenya. This regenerative wellness and fitness hub blends fitness, agriculture, and cultural spaces for over 285,000 refugees. The settlement, known as one of the largest globally, primarily hosts individuals from 19 countries, including South Sudan and Somalia.

How Modular Construction Can Provide Architectural Aid: From Rapid-Response to Transitional and Affordable Housing

James Wormald — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Ever since the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of mass production, the ownership and use of simple products and services like flush toilets with running water, electricity, heating, and cooling are seen as human rights in many areas of the world. With the majority of homes and residential projects being individually designed and built to order – therefore without the speed and cost advantages of mass production – an underperforming housing construction sector means many people – even in the world’s richest countries – are being denied one of the most basic human rights, having somewhere to call home.

In Times of Need: Architects Stepping Up in Humanitarian Crisis

Bianca Valentina Roșescu — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 04:30:00 +0000

Hard times bring people together. In recent years we have seen how collective work can be a driving force to help those affected by natural or man-made disasters. After a disaster or displacement, a safe physical environment is often essential. Therefore, the need for coordination becomes a key factor in assisting people in times of need.

Architecture and Aid: Reframing Research on Informal Settlements

Matthew Maganga — Mon, 09 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Almost seven kilometers from the green of Uhuru Park in central Nairobi, lies the informal settlement of Kibera. It is an area whose urban character consists of corrugated iron roofs, mud walls, and a complicated network of utility poles. Kibera, at this point in time, is a well-known place. Much has been written and researched on this “city within a city,” from its infrastructural issues to its navigation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises Beyond Designing Buildings

Dima Stouhi — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Following decades of ongoing socio-cultural and economic crises across the globe, the design community has realized that it is time to “design like they give a damn”. And with that, they embraced a movement that saw architects and designers use their acquired skills to develop design-based solutions to humanitarian crises, ranging from building modular housing and mapping landscapes, to developing mobile applications and documentaries, all from an altruistic standpoint. But since pro bono work is not yet ingrained in the ethos of architecture, how have architects broken out of the traditional model of “corporate” architecture and established a way to ensure ethical responsibility for human welfare?

Cities and Conflict: Exploring Urban Adaptive Reuse

Matthew Maganga — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 07:30:00 +0000

COP26, The United Nations Climate Change Conference, is scheduled to be held in Scotland soon, in the last week of October 2021. Against the backdrop of this conference is a heightened global awareness of climate change, as discussions take place on how a sustainable, more equal future can be achieved. The present and future state of architecture is a key component of this conversation, as criticism is levelled at architecture firms that “greenwash” and questions are raised on if the term “sustainability” is increasingly merely being used as today’s buzzword.

Rights to the City and Urban Conflicts in Latin America: What Can Be Done?

Fabian Dejtiar — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +0000

María Cristina Cravino, the head of numerous research projects and publications on informal settlements and the politics of public habitation, draws from her background in anthropology to become one of the most prominent voices in the discussion about rights to the city and modern urban conflicts.

Refugee Camps: From Temporary Settlements to Permanent Dwellings

Christele Harrouk — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 07:30:00 +0000

With more than 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, according to the UNHCR, and nearly 25.9 million refugees, the time has come to reconsider the traditional emergency camp approach. Although the concept is temporary by definition, in real life the lifespan of these refugee camps exceeds the planned and the expected.

Invisible Cities: Rethinking the Refugee Crisis Through Design

Cristina Mateo — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:00:00 +0000

What do Katuma, Hagadera, Dagahaley, Zaatari or Ifo bring to mind? They are truly beautiful names, and could easily belong to Italo Calvino's 55 invisible cities.

Iulia Cistelecan, from the London School of Architecture, Wins the 2020 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship

Christele Harrouk — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 05:30:00 +0000

Now in its fourteenth year, the 2020 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Iulia Cistelecan, from the London School of Architecture, for her project “Life Between Shelters: Refugee camps of today becoming cities of tomorrow”.

Project Earth 2: Cities of Tomorrow

Rene Submissions — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 10:21:00 +0000

Violent conflict and persecution, compounded by rising food insecurity, environmental degradation, poor governance and countless other factors, drove more than three million people to leave their countries as refugees or to seek asylum in 2016, joining millions of others already in exile. By 2050, because of the consequences of climate change, the amount of climate migrants could reach the number of 200 millions refugees. Refugee camps are usually planned, built and designed with the aim of fulfilling the basic human needs for only a short time, but only 189.300 refugees were resettled in 2016 and approximately 40% of the refugees

Yale Students Propose a Series of Pop-Up Religious Buildings to Sustain Culture in Refugee Camps

Jan Doroteo — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 09:30:00 +0000

The theme for this year’s Venice Biennale is largely an invitation for architects and designers to expand and think beyond architecture’s traditional frontiers and to respond to a wider range of challenges relating to human settlement. With news of political crises continuing to fill the headlines of late, Aravena’s theme challenges architects to respond. One such response comes from Lucas Boyd and Chad Greenlee from the Yale School of Architecture. They believe that:

A Refugee Camp Is a City / World Refugee Day 2013

Ana Asensio — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

June 20th. World Refugee Day.