Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response | AGA Khan Award for Architecture 2022
Award Cycle: 2020-2022 Cycle
Status: Award Recipient
Country of origin: Bangladesh
Location: Teknaf, Bangladesh
Client: BRAC HCMP, ActionAid
Architect: Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Fatmi, Saad Ben Mostafa
Completed: 2019
Rather than separate projects, the six sustainably built structures in the world’s largest refugee camps, housing Rohingya fleeing Myanmar’s genocidal violence, are a collection of practice exercise: Each created scope for the next according to need. Much of the design occurred collaboratively in the field. A women-friendly space, very low to withstand cyclones, features a complex roof truss built by Rohingya bamboo workers without drawings or models. A safe space offering practical support to women and girls employed local materials and an exterior scheme that avoids the disturbance caused to visiting elephants by the blues and pinks of standard camp structures. A facility for women to create and showcase their handmade products is built of bamboo and thatch. One community support centre uses colourful mattresses as roof insulation; another mixes natural materials with industrial ones; another is built around existing betel nut trees, resisting the tendency to deforestation.
