Humanitarian Architecture: The Latest Architecture and News

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working with the Nigerian Government to develop Rebuilding Ngarannam, a stabilization program in Northeast Nigeria that offers a new village to a community displaced by Boko Haram. The new urban plan and infrastructure were designed by Nigerian Consultant Architect Tosin Oshninowo, who consulted with the community to create a settlement that reflects and speaks to their culture. The first phase, which includes housing and essential services like education and healthcare facilities, is set to be complete in the summer of 2022.

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The Global Challenge is calling for high-impact community architectural initiatives. Finalists will have the opportunity to win an award and connect to A--D partners to bring their community project to life

Architecture-in-Development (A--D) is launching the Global Challenge 2021, the 2nd edition, following the great success of the 2016 pilot. The Global Challenge 2021 calls for community-driven architectural initiatives that have radical potential to improve the lives of both rural and urban communities.

Enter the Global Challenge, connect to partners and supporters to get your community's initiative off the ground! The submission will be open from June 6 until July 25, 2021.

2014 Pritzker Laureate Shigeru Ban may be as well known for his innovative use of materials as for his compassionate approach to design. For a little over three decades, Ban, the founder of the Voluntary Architects Network, has applied his extensive knowledge of recyclable materials, particularly paper and cardboard, to constructing high-quality, low-cost shelters for victims of disaster across the world —from Rwanda to Haiti, to Turkey, Japan, and more. We've rounded up 10 projects of his humanitarian work, explained by Shigeru Ban Architects themselves.

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In April 2015 there was an earthquake in Nepal which took the lives of 8,790 and injured 22,300.

It’s been almost 4 years since that day. 

Nepal is considered one of the poorest countries in Asia. And because of this, the country has not yet recovered from this disaster. People still seek ways to reconstruct their homes to live, and children need school to go to.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has mobilized his Voluntary Architects’ Network (VAN) to aid victims of recent devastating floods in Southern Japan. At least 210 people have been killed by flooding and landslides which occurred last week, with a continuing heatwave further hampering recovery efforts.

Ban, along with members of the VAN and student volunteers, is constructing a partition system in evacuation centers made from paper tubes and cloth curtains. The temporary structures intend to offer privacy for flooding victims, forming a modular unit of 2 meters by 2 meters.

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Following natural disaster or conflict, architecture plays a critical role in not only reconstructing lost infrastructure but also responding to the need for comfort and safety for those affected. Successful post-disaster architecture must meet both the short-term need for immediate shelter, as well as long-term needs for reconstruction and stability. Eight years after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, those displaced continue to reside in temporary shelters without adequate access to plumbing and electricity, revealing the critical importance of addressing long-term needs after disaster and conflict.

Below, we've rounded up 10 impressive examples of post-disaster architecture that range from low-cost, short-term proposals to those that attempt to rebuild entire communities from the ground up:

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Over the past two years alone, more than a million people have fled the Syrian conflict to take refuge in Europe, strenuously testing the continent’s ability to respond to a large-scale humanitarian crisis. With the Syrian Refugee Crisis still unresolved, and temporary refugee camps now firmly established on the frontiers of Europe, architects and designers are devoting energy to improving the living conditions of those in camps fleeing war and persecution.

One emerging example of humanitarian architecture is Maidan Tent, a proposed social hub to be erected at a refugee camp in Ritsona, Greece. Led by two young architects, Bonaventura Visconti di Modrone and Leo Bettini Oberkalmsteiner, and with the support of the UN International Organization for Migration, Maidan Tent will allow refugees to benefit from indoor public space – a communal area to counteract the psychological trauma induced by war, persecution, and forced migration.

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Challenge
We challenge the innovative minds around the globe to design a marketplace with an operational plan for a vulnerable population (adolescents, single mothers, children, people with trauma, etc) in one of the refugee settlements below. The marketplace should be able to run for long-term, i.e. 3-5 years, and benefit as many people as possible. The overall budget limit for both construction and operation of the entire marketplace is $100,000.

Opportunity
In light of the current surge of refugees in the international arena, refugee livelihoods in transitional settlements have become a crucial topic in contemporary geopolitical relations.