Public building for refugees: a catalogue

The ambition of the book is to frame a base point for a designer that is willing to dig into the issue of public buildings in refugee camps. More specifically, this catalogue breaks the topic in three parts: Urban, Building and Detail.

The Urban part provides an analysis of different camp typologies. Although other types of camps are included, the main focus is on refugee camps. More specific, the chapter offers insight in the structure of the camps and the way this typology has developed. The Building part provides information about different public buildings. Public functions discussed are health centres, community centres, schools, bus stops and market places. The main focus is on the influence of time on the specific typology. The Detail part provides an overview of seven different building materials - earth, cardboard, bamboo, wood, fabric, metal, plastic - with the analysis of built examples in different time spans. At this scale the aim is to clarify the properties and possibilities of each material in a range from temporal to permanent building.

Finally, the goal of the catalogue is to serve as a toolbox, from which a designer can grab elements when for instance designing a hospital. Then the detail part can be used to explore the possibilities of different materials.