In 2023 the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta decided to tackle a local challenge that was greatly in need of attention, namely designing for refugees and asylum seekers. The hypothetical imagining of a re-design for Malta’s largest reception centre, HTV (Hal Far Tent Village) was chosen as the primary project for a group of first year Masters architecture students taking an interior design credit as part of their curriculum.
This course was delivered by Perit Sandro Valentino of Valentino Architects and Architect William Dodge, founder of p-u-b-l-i-c, a US based boutique multidisciplinary design and strategy firm. The assignment here was by no means an easy one. This subject is by definition a sensitive one and the number of questions that need to be addressed add layers of complexity to an already demanding brief. How does one design for an almost Babel like village environment which is to serve as the point of introduction to Malta for users hailing from a plethora of different countries having diverse cultures, languages, cuisines, religions etc…
The idea was that of creating a space that is both welcoming and comfortable yet not designed for permanence. Furthermore, how can architecture help address some of the trauma and hardship that refugees and asylum seekers encounter on the long and perilous journey to get here. An additional consideration that needed to be kept in mind was that reception centres also serve the function of re-introducing its users to a stable normality, a halfway house before its residents integrate within a society that is very different to the one they are used to. A group of 27 students took on this challenge and together with AWAS’ support set about proposing an alternative vision to how reception centres could address these issues.
MOAS was asked to share its experiences on working with refugees providing context and background as well as any insight when planning for the needs of this unique demographic. Affectively MOAS here also served as one of the representatives for the role civil society organisations play in the more practical aspects associated with migration.
To tackle this behemoth of a task this intrepid group of students were separated into six distinct groups, each entrusted with a unique facet of this complex project but having to work collaboratively overall. Arguably, the logistics required to ensure that these six distinct processes come together harmoniously was one of the most difficult aspects behind this endeavour. Overall, the goal was to design an inclusive and vibrant environment, where migrants would not feel like prisoners but welcomed and humanized. In short, a human-centred design.
The six student groups were labelled as follows:
- Framework: Tackling the overall layout of the reception centre as a whole / urban planning for this micro community.
- Halfway: Addressing the boundaries around the site, the creation of an enclosure that does not feel like one and is both open while providing safety.
- Kitchen: The provision of the tools necessary for users to be able to recreate the foods from their cultures either individually or communally while avoiding potential hazards.
- Community: The engineering of a space that inherently welcomes and encourages socialisation, collaboration and community building while respecting individual customs and beliefs.
- Inside: Crafting functional yet comfortable interiors within the prefabricated container style housing units already found onsite.
- Canopy: Designing affective shading over the site and domestic spaces to maintain a temperate climate while providing shelter from the elements.
Throughout the semesters the students designed flexible and modular solutions capable of significant scalability. The solutions proposed demonstrated ingenuity and creativity re-using elements and materials either already available onsite, reconfiguring the placement of existing housing units and re-designing them to make them feel more like home.
All of the students did remarkably well in their assignments, but perhaps one of the most interesting outcomes of this project is that the course participants have refused to stop working on this issue even after their university commitments came to an end. A group of volunteers have come together this summer at the Valletta Design Cluster to work on the drafting of a revamped masterplan designed together with the service users. The idea is that once completed, it will be presented to the relevant authorities for consideration and potential execution, and I for one am very curious and eager to see what they’ll come up with next.
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