Sepideh Rajabzadeh
ON THE EDGE OF THIRD SPACE: A Re-imagination of the Refugee Camp Boundaries
Sepideh Rajabzadeh
ON THE EDGE OF THIRD SPACE: A Re-imagination of the Refugee Camp Boundaries
ON THE EDGE OF THIRD SPACE: A Re-imagination of the Refugee Camp Boundaries
→ ARCH 692
About
This Project explores the pivotal moment when a refugee camp transcends its original temporary purpose. Central to this exploration is the intersection of architecture and citizenship practices. These prolonged refugee camps, evolve into unique city camps with urbanization characteristics resembling a hybrid of home and host countries.
In this project, the Za’atari camp in Jordan serves as a representative model to imagine new spatial typologies for camps and new political structures that evolve over different phases (Fig 4-6). It challenges the commonly accepted notion of a “better life” outside, and proposes a counter-narrative, suggesting a look inward at the potential of the camps to evolve from a space of in-between into an empowering third city-state.
The proposal envisions the existing fences (Fig 1) as aqueduct walls, turning barriers into vibrant borders of community interaction. This new edge, carrying water around the camp, invites social and cultural activities, redefining the camp’s perimeter from an exclusionary boundary to a gateway of engagement (Fig 3). It suggests a new form of displaced citizenship, blending the camp into a transnational city-state. Finally, one wonders if over time these aqueduct walls could extend like arms to other refugee camps around the region evolving into a third-city nation. A network of refugee camps - a new idea of nation and a new idea of citizenship.
About
This Project explores the pivotal moment when a refugee camp transcends its original temporary purpose. Central to this exploration is the intersection of architecture and citizenship practices. These prolonged refugee camps, evolve into unique city camps with urbanization characteristics resembling a hybrid of home and host countries.
In this project, the Za’atari camp in Jordan serves as a representative model to imagine new spatial typologies for camps and new political structures that evolve over different phases (Fig 4-6). It challenges the commonly accepted notion of a “better life” outside, and proposes a counter-narrative, suggesting a look inward at the potential of the camps to evolve from a space of in-between into an empowering third city-state.
The proposal envisions the existing fences (Fig 1) as aqueduct walls, turning barriers into vibrant borders of community interaction. This new edge, carrying water around the camp, invites social and cultural activities, redefining the camp’s perimeter from an exclusionary boundary to a gateway of engagement (Fig 3). It suggests a new form of displaced citizenship, blending the camp into a transnational city-state. Finally, one wonders if over time these aqueduct walls could extend like arms to other refugee camps around the region evolving into a third-city nation. A network of refugee camps - a new idea of nation and a new idea of citizenship.
In this project, the Za’atari camp in Jordan serves as a representative model to imagine new spatial typologies for camps and new political structures that evolve over different phases (Fig 4-6). It challenges the commonly accepted notion of a “better life” outside, and proposes a counter-narrative, suggesting a look inward at the potential of the camps to evolve from a space of in-between into an empowering third city-state.
The proposal envisions the existing fences (Fig 1) as aqueduct walls, turning barriers into vibrant borders of community interaction. This new edge, carrying water around the camp, invites social and cultural activities, redefining the camp’s perimeter from an exclusionary boundary to a gateway of engagement (Fig 3). It suggests a new form of displaced citizenship, blending the camp into a transnational city-state. Finally, one wonders if over time these aqueduct walls could extend like arms to other refugee camps around the region evolving into a third-city nation. A network of refugee camps - a new idea of nation and a new idea of citizenship.
