Project: Fifth year architectural project under the topic of 'wicked problems'
Description: According to Horst Rittle, an early 20th century German design theorist, a "Wicked problem" is (one that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize (Wikipedia). The term "wicked" is used to denote resistance to resolution, rather than evil. Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems)
As a subject of investigation under this idea of the wicked problem, I have examined Al Zaatari refugee camp in the North of Jordan from various different angles, the most significant of which is the relation between the flat and arid desert landscape and isolation. To the examiner from afar, the problem is easy to identify: it is a 3 km x 1.8 km piece of land that hosts currently over 149,000 people, around 540 hectares; within each hectare around 3000 people live. And so al Zaatari Camp, with its continuous growth for the third year in a row, becomes a 'wicked problem'- despite some efforts introduced to make the camp resemble a city, supermarkets, football centres and schools, such changes only land on the periphery of this problem.
I aim in this project to think beyond the beautified veneer of 'better' urban forms. The answer to the camp is not to simply beautify the harsh landscape or place roads and plant trees. The answer is not one, it is a kit of parts and each part or solution comes at different times and phases.
As a subject of investigation under this idea of the wicked problem, I have examined Al Zaatari refugee camp in the North of Jordan from various different angles, the most significant of which is the relation between the flat and arid desert landscape and isolation. To the examiner from afar, the problem is easy to identify: it is a 3 km x 1.8 km piece of land that hosts currently over 149,000 people, around 540 hectares; within each hectare around 3000 people live. And so al Zaatari Camp, with its continuous growth for the third year in a row, becomes a 'wicked problem'- despite some efforts introduced to make the camp resemble a city, supermarkets, football centres and schools, such changes only land on the periphery of this problem.
I aim in this project to think beyond the beautified veneer of 'better' urban forms. The answer to the camp is not to simply beautify the harsh landscape or place roads and plant trees. The answer is not one, it is a kit of parts and each part or solution comes at different times and phases.