The Jungle
5th Nov, 2015
Shelter Design for Calais Migrants, 2nd - 24th October
Unfortunately, 'shelter design' is a slightly misleading heading here. I was involved in a very interesting but also quite frustrating pre-design process, following a request sent to our MPhil Architecture cohort to be involved in the design and production of shelters for the migrants in Calais' 'Jungle'. The request was sent by The Hackney Group, a collaboration of London artists including Black Rat. They had fundraised approx. £10,000 to design and construct temporary shelters in The Jungle. The initial brief was for 10-20 prototype shelters to be constructed on site mid-November 2015. I assumed our role would be to design some sketch schemes for the shelter which would then be worked up with the assistance of an architect / engineer and constructed on site by a team of builders, and that the Hackney Group were themselves familiar with this kind of construction.
On the 5th - 10th October, a team went to The Jungle as an initial site visit, primarily to assess the needs of the migrants which would inform the shelter design. However, it became increasingly apparent to those on site that there were some more significant issues here than the demand for 20 or so temporary shelters. In particular, there is a dire need for more toilets and adequate sanitation systems, and a more general organisation strategy for the site. This article in The Guardian sums some other major concerns that the Cambridge team discovered on site:
We (the core design team, comprising myself and several other MPhil students and graduates) were advised upon the return of the team that perhaps temporary shelters were not the most appropriate way to act in the The Jungle to best serve the needs of the migrants living there. In fact, they suggested (after the aforementioned needs of sanitation and organisation) that tents with appropriate foundations would be more suitable to the temporary nature of this site, which in any case is rumoured to be relocated in March 2016... making the proposed shelters potentially a waste of time and resources.
An additional complication to the original brief is the presence of L'Auberge des Migrants in Calais. They are currently constructing simple shelters from a workshop just outside the Jungle, which are made available to the most vulnerable in the camp. The Cambridge team felt it would be better to work alongside Auberge rather than further exacerbate the already confused situation in the camp by introducing another shelter and construction team. They are struggling to organise the work being done on site and co-ordinate the various projects; perhaps with correct collaboration with Auberge, our work with the Hackney Group could have a much bigger impact than the proposed shelters.
And then, I won't cover here the number of issues we, as a design team, felt regarding the safety and quality of the design and construction process... Suffice it to say that, as a bunch of yet-to-be-qualified architects, between us we have little experience in this area of design and especially in construction, and carry no liability for our work. Without any guarantees that the shelters would be well constructed and our design approved by an architect or engineer, we were not willing to continue with the design process.
So, at this stage all work on this potential project has been stopped. However, I am hopeful that, after future discussions between the team in Cambridge and the Hackney Group, a decision will be made to go ahead with this project in some capacity or another. Ideally this will involve working alongside Auberge des Migrants to assist them with their already brilliant work.
