PROLOGOS: Redefining Refugee Architecture

Refugees are global phenomena that are impossible to prevent. Population movements have taken place throughout human history. A record of 65.6 million people are forced to leave their homes and are predicted to increase still further in future. 

The recent case of the internal conflict that has led to the urgency to evacuate their citizens. Thousands of Afghans flee from the armed violence within their borders in search of a safer environment. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had earlier appealed to neighboring countries of Afghanistan to keep their borders open for those seeking safety, saying up to half a million Afghans could flee their homeland by the end of the year.   

Between January and  July 2021, approximately 550,000 Afghans have been displaced from their homes due to the civil unrest within Afghanistan. Today, around 2.2 million refugees are relocated in Iran and Pakistan.  Other countries like Turkey, the USA, or the EU countries have either restrictive refugee policies or even downright refuse to accept Afghan refugees.  Afghans are in dire need of countries that will accommodate them.   

However, the challenges of refugees do not end after resettlement in a foreign country.  In fact, refugees often face challenges such as discrimination, language barriers, looking for affordable housing, looking for jobs, and many more.  They face ongoing mental health problems due to trauma, survival guilt, and separation from families.  The challenges that these refugees face are truly unimaginable. 

Refugee and mass migration is not a new phenomenon.  Architecture historian Michelle Provoost of Crimson argues that cities should be flexible to allow people to migrate in and out of it.  The historian cited the Italian city of Venice as a product of the European exodus.   Yet, the current approaches on refugee designs are ineffective.  Kilian Kleinschmidt points out current designs for refugees as ineffective.  In fact, these designs are even considered as “gimmicks” instead of actual effective solutions.  Refugees should be considered as permanent residents of a city instead of temporary visitors that will eventually return to their homeland citing that refugees live in refugee camps for an average of 17 years. With this in mind, how can designers come up with architectural solutions that will welcome a group of refugees into the Philippine community and embrace them as members of the Filipino society?

UAPGA-MNL presents the very first edition of PROLOGOS: Young Architect’s Step towards the Design Domain.

*Redefining Refugee Architecture*

The design competition is open to ALL undergraduate students and fresh graduates.

The competition runs from November 28, 2021, to February 28, 2022.

Register now at:
https://bit.ly/prologos2021_registration

Check out the detailed competition brief at:  https://bit.ly/PROLOGOS_brief

For further questions and clarifications regarding the competition, feel free to message us at [email protected]