Design Idea

The Project is thought, to give a moment of peace in refugees life, who have had to leave their
homes behind, against their will; being forced to undertake long trips full of dangers, that is
why the centre is an opportunity of standing, to found some stability and hope, that will allow
them to move on.

Thinking about this uprooting situation, and taking into account the current scenario in which
an average person will be living nine years within the camp, we believe the building is an
opportunity to create a community, where people can see themselves as such and develop
sense of belonging.

Due to the long time the refugees will be there(yo pondriaSince the refugees will be living
there for a long time), the emergency operations center is designed as a semi-permanent
structure with flexibility both in its uses and its disposition that allows it to adapt to the needs
of the organization throughout the contingency; and it even allows changing the program to
change into a permanent building after the conflict, such as a school or a cultural center. (no
entendi la frase en ingles ni en espanol)

Considering these (yo pondria the above mentioned) conditions, the program is organized
around a courtyard, which will function as a meeting point, where refugees and volunteers can
appropriate it, can use it to giving communications communicate or give news, organizing (si
cambian el ing de communicating por to, se pone organize) tasks or (simply) as an activity
center. It will be a place of interaction between refugees and volunteers;. this will be
contained by the volumes that fulfil the functions of attentions rooms, office and storage, .a
simple reinforcement mesh, will serve as transition between the patio and the built masses,
organizing the distribution and paths across blocks, also providing certain privacy between
functions. The spaces among volumes will be sectors of exchange that can be lived as an
extension of the camp, being walkable and accessible to the entire community, a forest of
columns will serve as structure for a roof that will unify the spaces, casting shadow giving it an
oasis in the desert trait, transmitting the desired peace. The cover is morphologically designed
to guide the water runoff by slope, allowing it to be collected in a tank placed in one of the
rearward patios (ex: between the office and the storage) during the rainy season and its later
use for hygiene tasks or the assembly of orchards, an activity that allows the refugees to get
involved in centre activities. Furthermore, This cover also provides some thermal insulation to
the building, separating it from the enclosures, generating an air cushion that circulates
between the ceiling and the external metal sheet.

Taking into account the proposed flexibility of the building, it is formulated to be assembled in
simple raising modules with materials and methods of the region that will allow the self-
construction, also admitting the participation of (the) refugees in the centre lifting, and during
this process help to develop the sense of belonging to them. (yo pondria: that will give them a
sense of belonging)

This module assembly allows different growing possibilities to the building also admitting
variations in the layout organization when circumstances warrant it. Being able to add modules
to some pre-existing volume or even the addition of whole cells of new independent functions
to the main structure;. an example can be seen in our proposal where a sanitary cell is
harmoniously attached independent of the structural module, raised with chemical toilets and
some sinks in relation to the health care modules. The addition of bodies in turn generates
new patios and transition spaces and also allows the assembly of a different arrangement with
another program adapting to the needs of the emergency (emergeny needs).

Material use
These modules are assembled with 3m x 3m bamboo cane (this module allows in places where
bamboo is not available to be manufactured with other types of wooden slats without altering
the system) that will allow the roof to be quickly lifted, so that the operations centre can begin
its first functions as soon as possible, and then gradually complete the closings in stages,. there
are three types of enclosures; a permeable bamboo panel is designed to allow light filtering,
also a folding variant of it to make the openings and a blind wall of laterite bricks that could be
intervened with local techniques by refugees reinforcing their sense of identity. These panels
will make possible to carry out the internal divisions of each volume as well, organizing at will
the necessary program for each emergency. The choice of the metal sheet for the cover is
related to runoff, and the possibility it provides for collecting rainwater.

In this way, being able (it will be possible) to solve the construction with the least amount of
articles, facilitating the process of obtaining materials and simplifying the building process.

Construction Process
(As for) For the bases, a chaining beam will be made on the perimeter of the volume
complemented with small individual bases for each column,. these will consist of four (four
what?) (, three meter long bamboo sections,) that will be linked at two and a half meters by a
beam composed of two three meter long bamboo sections; that will allow the assembly of a
ceiling (also made of bamboo); and another simple section that links the ends of the columns.

(as for)For the roof, four other sections of one meter long (?) Of bamboo are added (will be
added)in the middle of the beam to give the slope to the sheets,. this higher part and the
column at the end of the module will be linked by a bent bamboo nail (The bamboo sections
obtain flexibility through 24 hours submerged in water this time can be used during the
assembly of the bases.). This will allow us to give it the curved shape that enables water to
drain.

The permeable screens will be made by linking the columns centres using bamboo sections
placed horizontally, while the blind ones that seek to provide greater containment will be
raised surrounding them; these (cuales these?) will be intervened with local techniques to
generate a greater link between the refugee and the building.

Material cost calculation

Entire emergency operations center

MATERIAL AMOUNT UNITS TOTAL

 Bamboo Vulgaris 12.550 m* 2.510 €9.538

Laterite Brick 46.5 m3 5.167 €4.650

Metal sheet 607 m2 380 €1.824

€16.012

*Considering both needs, structure and enclosure

Module cost

ITEM AMOUNT UNITS TOTAL

Bamboo Structure 92m 19 €72,2

Bamboo Panel 46m 10 €38

Bamboo Ceiling 60m 12 €45,6

Laterite Wall 1,5m3 167 €150,3

Cover 9m2 6 €28,8

€334,9