Abstract
About to conclude my studies in architecture, I find myself in the middle of a period where the world is focusing on the conflicts happening in Syria. It has been 71 years since the World Wars came to an end, monstrosities of humanity that killed hundreds of thousands of people, which we celebrate today with fulfilment while forgetting that wars, known as conflicts now, perhaps to minimise their severity, they continue.
However, not all is tragic news, given that science and technology advance day by day, making us develop a more humanitarian insight into ourselves. Once, Agatha Christie wrote in her autobiography that it wasn’t until her twenties that she found out that her living standard was above that of other people.
This a rather naive perspective that we likely start to see at this age before it turns into a premise for adult life competition and comparison with others.
I was lucky with no exception as well. Shame to see a humanitarian crisis, where people are forced to leave their homes, long displacements to reach the refugee campsites… all and much more, through the screens of my home.
These things reach deep into the heart, not simply because of losing a house or walking long distances away, but rather for the future that awaits them.
I am currently an architecture student. And I honestly feel a bit hopeless that I can’t help. A house is a fundamental belonging for a human, necessary for sleeping, eating, working, and many other things. That everyone needs a house. These houses are designed by architects, and we are the first cogwheel in a chain that builds shelters. It is clear that we are all different, some of us get these questions more deeply than others. Mrs Colau, the mayoress of the city of Barcelona, seems to have enough. A great defender of homeless people, it is not surprising that she proposed an initiative to welcome Syrian refugees to our city.
My contribution to this focuses on the provision of temporary housing for refugees through the restoration of abandoned industrial warehouses located in Can Batlló, concurrently with the improvement of the rigid appearance of a long brick wall that separates Can Batlló from the city.
AWARDS
– ‘Más habitar, más humanizar [More habiting, more humanizing]’ XIV BEAU Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (July 2018): Final Thesis ‘Cohabiting inside the Hortus Conclusus: a model for welcoming refugees in the city’ selected for exhibition in the Jardines de Pereda, Santander, Spain.
– ‘Arquitectura per a refugiats [Architecture for refugees] Exhibition’ (November 2018): Final Thesis ‘Cohabiting inside the Hortus Conclusus: a model for welcoming refugees in the city’ selected for exhibition at ETSAB Barcelona School of Architecture, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain.
PUBLICATION
– Ma Lu, J., 2016. Cohabitar dins de l’Hortus Conclusus: un model d’acollida dels refugiats a la ciutat. Treball Final de Grau. UPC, Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2117/408640