Alexander Anis & Safiyyah Subhan-Khan
2026
BE(COMING) investigates the refugee crisis by examining what happens when spaces designed to be temporary become places where people actually live. Instead of perceiving camps solely as temporary holding zones, what if we could offer struggling families dignity by providing a framework for people to continue their traditions in the next chapter of their lives? Today, thousands of asylum seekers wait months or years for relocation. The ongoing Sudanese genocide has forced large numbers to flee, especially to Chad and Egypt. The scale of displacement has overwhelmed existing infrastructure, leaving temporary encampments as the only immediate solution.
The refugee exposes the fiction underlying modern sovereignty. Rights depend on national belonging. Refugees are stateless, unprotected by the sovereignty of their nations of origin, and thus arriving without political status: law and fact blur. The UN intervenes by acting as a temporary sovereign nation, granting them minimal human rights. Refugees are forced to exist parasitically in their host nations. Camps operate like a city but lack the rights of a city because they are unrecognized. With the ultimate goal of enabling dignity informed by Martin Heidegger’s ‘goviert’, we want to reinforce conditions by rearranging the current model of UNHCR refugee camps. Drawing on the common UNHCR framework and other provided materials, we intend to adapt our designs to the social patterns of many North African cultures while adhering to UNHCR standards. A set of homes that begins with a collective space for all occupants. As families, neighbours, and friends begin to arrive and gather, we create a familiar space for them to congregate and take agency. By reestablishing a home, a city begins to emerge.