How can innovative design and new technologies improve the situation in Kara Tepe refugee camp?
Together with 25 international architects, behavior scientists, material scientists, designers and engineers, I was invited to participate in this conference organized by Aris Papadopoulos, Architect, founder of design agency LATRA based in Lesvos.
After careful field study of the use of space in the refugee camp our team learned that there was an apparent lack of spatial hierarchy and particularly shaded semi private spaces for the people living there.
These fundamental human necessities forced people to build their own shading and demarcation devises, which eventually turned in to fire hazards.
Our team designed a new way to layout the camp through a small hook device that fits on the existing bolts of the IKEA funded shelter structures called Better Shelter.
Our idea expands on the function of the shelter and makes an enormous change because it allows for shades and partitioners to be mounted easily, both outside and inside.
We incorporated the idea of courtyard houses in our proposal to provide a safer more private environment for children to play, women to rest and washing to hang.
We developed a proposal for the layout of the extension of the refugee camp.
Other possible layouts utilizing the Better Community Hook
3D printed prototype of Better Community Hook.
Based on UNHCR’s Core Relief basic life-sustaining products that every person is entitled, such as a blanket and jerry can, we developed alternative design ideas for advancing their existing functions.
A solution that can affect millions of people without increasing cost, considers access to essential information for the displaced through modification of the blanket.
With an addition of QR codes on the label, people of concern could access information related to the current asylum processes, a campsite map and NGOs based there, medical help and emergency contact information, and the chance to communicate or get moral support.
With an addition of QR codes on the label, people could access information related to the current asylum processes, a campsite map and NGOs based there, medical help and emergency contact information, and the chance to communicate or get moral support.
3D printing allowed for perfect-fit add-ons designed to expand the function of the Core Relief item
...which resonates with the idea of dignity through water control.
...based on existing camping technique
Custom designed add-ons that fit the standardized Core Relief items provided by UNHCR would improve everyday life in the camp