«One of the goals of our course is to demonstrate how architecture, urban design and city planning should be an integrated part of humanitarian work. This contribution is a good example of that. It is sometimes challenging to communicate new ideas to people outside the architecture sphere. We are very impressed that our students have managed to convince a jury where humanitarian work is heavily represented. It proves that the project is both innovative and realistic", says Tone Selmer-Olsen.
Social interaction and safe work environment
The Place and Displacement competition, hosted by Ideation Worldwide, focuses on how to best create dignified shelters and living arrangements for displaced people, while also protecting their autonomy, creativity and capability in difficult conditions.
As part of the In Transit studio, Maria Årtun and Nicole Lilly Gros at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design submitted their contributions along with 342 other participants from 150 universities worldwide.
Årtun and Gros were announced as winners of the competition, with their design "Women's Bazaar" in Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, along with two other winning projects.
"We couldn't believe we had won. This is incredibly exciting and a great opportunity for us. We are interested in working in the intersection of architecture and humanitarian response and hopefully this can help further our careers, the students say.
Their proposal demonstrates a market place connected to the UN Women compound. It consists of workshops, child friendly spaces, places for social interaction and locations for shops and market stalls.
"The women are strongly underrepresented on the Za'atari job market. Only 4 percent of women work at the local market. We wanted to construct a place for women that could encompass both the need for social interaction and a safe work environment", the students explain.
Read also: Young architects with new solutions in humanitarian response.
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Developed by NORCAP experts
The strategic partnership between NORCAP and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design has been on-going for two years to support development of tools and solutions responding to changing displacement patterns. The two NORCAP experts, Tone Selmer-Olsen and Håvard Breivik, are responsible for the In Transit course for the second year running.
Both experts have several NORCAP missions under their belts, working as site planners in humanitarian emergencies such as Haiti, Nepal and Macedonia/Hungary.
They started the architecture course as a response to the need for architects' expertise on how to improve the physical conditions for people seeking sanctuary in unfamiliar environments. At the same time, they believe it is important to develop architects and urbanists who can help respond to one of the biggest global challenges of our time – migration and displaced populations, and taking into consideration the different needs of different groups.
"The ambition of the In Transit-project is to provide the United Nations, NGOs, city officials, immigration authorities, and other organizations or individuals, with new thinking and fresh approaches around the subject of "urbanization and architecture in emergencies”. We are working with real time cases and our focus is to come up with realistic and innovative solutions for creating dignified living arrangements for refugees and other displaced populations, while also benefiting their partner communities", says Jørn C. Øwre, Project Manager for the project from NORCAP's side.
The courses have resulted in the book In Transit - Architectural Solutions in Emergencies, suggesting solutions for dignified reception responses in countries of destination. It is also a part of a collaboration with UNOPS, IFRC and the International Organisation for Migration to develop design and construction guidance on camps and collective centres in rural and urban displacement contexts.
Read also: Greek interest in NORCAP refugee reception ideas.
Competing with architects in New York
The winning design's architecture is inspired by the architecture found in the native countries of the inhabitants of Za'atari, but is based on locally available materials and simple construction principles.
"The Women's Bazaar project not only addresses a very important topic; women being secluded from public spaces and hence the job market, but also provides concrete solutions though spatial and programmatic interventions, which will help tackle social inequality”, says Håvard Breivik.
He recently accompanied the two students to New York to present their project and accept the award. The students also took part in a workshop and an exhibition on the same subject.
"Maria Årtun and Nicole Lilly Gros were the only students among the winners, competing with rather well-established architects. A great achievement by the In Transit students", Breivik says.
