
Building 4Humanity
Design Competition — 2019 Taiwan Prize
2nd EDITION — 2019
DESIGNING FOR THE INTEGRATION AND INCLUSION OF SYRIAN REFUGEES IN TURKEY
Design Challenge
To date, nearly 120,000 Syrians have settled in Reyhanlı under temporary protection. In view of the needs for social inclusion and integration, this competition invites students and professionals to propose radical but applicable design ideas for transitional shelters and social and intercultural Service Centre (only for professional teams).
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DESIGN SITE
The area of design site is around 25,000 square metres, situated in the south western outskirts of Reyhanlı. The site is adjacent to parkland, agriculture land, a newly built regional hospital and terrace housing. ( latitude: 36°14'40.95"N, longitude: 36°33'36.39"E).
Design Challenge
Students Category
This competition invites students and recent graduates to propose radical but applicable design ideas for transitional shelters with 5,000 square meters of indoor floor area that could be used for accommodating 400 Syrian settlers, particularly for the wounded elderly, war widows and orphans.
The design might consider using an area of up to 800 square meters for welcoming or receiving guests, administering first aids, and providing other basic services, such as food, healthcare and indoor leisure activities.
The urban fragments dedicated to the proposed transitional shelters must be confined to a piece of land with 7,000 square meters in the north side of the location, and must observe a vacant area of 10 meters in width in front of the construction site (see the image satellite with the plot limits).
It should be designed primarily for serving Syrians, but must embody the spirit of integration and meet the aspirations of local community through architecture, urban and landscape design.
Design Challenge
Professional Category
The professional category will need to consider, in addition to the requirements for the student category, combining the transitional shelters with another facility: a social and intercultural service centre with 15,000 square meters of indoor floor area.
The centre should be proposed for both Turks and Syrians in order to meet both the communities’ needs and aspirations, serving as a foundation for the process of social inclusion and integration between Turks and Syrians.
This centre should be envisaged as a meeting point between people and cultures, with a view to promoting cultural exchange, sharing lifestyle knowledge, enhancing social bonds, engaging Syrians into the city’s social, economic and cultural life, and building resilience for the community as a whole.

Eligibility criteria
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The student category competition is open to all postgraduate, graduate, undergraduate students and recent graduates (graduating in 2019).
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All students and recent graduates should be under 31 years of age.
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Multidisciplinary teams are highly encouraged.
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The maximum number of team members is 5.​
Challenge
All participants are encouraged to critically investigate the site in conjunction with an in-depth consideration for its immediate and wider context. Specifically, considerations should be given to:
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selecting specific target groups, users and beneficiaries;
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configuring a specific architectural program;
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conducting architectural design;
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specifing processes and features of construction; and
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proposing organization and management of building complex.
International Framework and Resources
The new facility should also aim to meet the principles and main guidelines provided by global agendas:
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the UN Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), namely Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
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the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Conventionon Climate Change
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the Legal and Protection Policy Research Series of the UNHCR, such as the Rights of Refugees in the Context of Integration: Legal Standards and Recommendations.
Special attention should be given to the term “integration” as explained in In Chapter 1: The right to integration assistance of 1951 Convention:
“The term integration (‘assimilation’) has also been interpreted as referring to the process of laying the foundations for the refugee to become familiar with the customs, language and way of life of the country of asylum, so that without any feeling of coercion, he/she may more readily be integrated into the different aspects of life in the country of refuge. This may be accomplished through such means as, inter alia, language and vocational courses, lectures on national institutions and culture, and by creating opportunities for stimulating contacts between refugees and the host population. As such, any definition of “integration”, as well as integration frameworks or programmes should reflect an approach which promotes acceptance and respect for the refugee’s way of life and culture, while also providing assistance for their functional and cultural adaptation into the host society.”
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the Report on the World Social Situation 2016, Leaving no one Behind: The Imperative of Inclusive Development In Chapter I Identifying social inclusion and exclusion, here are the key messages:
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Social exclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon not limited to material deprivation; poverty is an important dimension of exclusion, albeit only one dimension. Accordingly, social inclusion processes involve more than improving access to economic resources.
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Social inclusion is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights.
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Measuring social exclusion is challenging due to its multidimensional nature and the lack of standard data sources across countries and for all social groups at highest risk of being left behind. Despite limitations, the existing data allow for a meaningful analysis of key aspects of exclusion. The report presents these data while illustrating data gaps.
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While inclusion is a core aspiration of the 2030 Agenda, conceptual and analytical work on what constitutes inclusion, as well as efforts to improve data availability, are needed.
Suggested Reading
Transitional shelter guidelines, by Shelter Centre, 2012
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Transitional shelters Eight designs, by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
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Children in an urban world, State of the world’s children, by UNICEF, 2012
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Cities need to welcome – not resist – refugees, by Robert Muggah, 2018
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Designing appropriate interventions in urban settings: Health, education, livelihoods, and registration for urban refugees and returnees, by UNHCR, 2009
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Mean Streets: Identifying and Responding to Urban Refugees' Risks of Gender-Based Violence, by Women’s Refugee Commission, 2016
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Perspectives, Expectations and Suggestions of the Turkish Business Sector on Syrians in Turkey, by Prof. Dr. M. Murat ERDOÄžAN, 2015
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Syrians-Barometer-2017, by Prof. Dr. M. Murat ERDOÄžAN, 2017
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Syrians in Turkey: Social Acceptance and Integration Research (English content after page 38), by Prof. Dr. M. Murat ERDOÄžAN, 2014
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Urban Refugees from ‘Detachment’ to ‘Harmonization’, by Prof. Dr. M. Murat ERDOÄžAN, 2017
Links & Downloads
Download the folder that contain photos, google maps images and CAD drawings of the site in Reyhanlı
2019. Building 4Humanity Design Competition I Contact: 2019.b4h.designcompetition@gmail.com