The formal proceedings of the 3rd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, presented by CUMULUS Association, DRS SIG on Design Pedagogy and the DESIGN-ED Coalition, 2015
Humanitarian Design For Refugee Camps: Design Solutions in Crisis Situations
Tiiu Poldma & Claude Yacoub
Abstract
Unrest and strife in the world leads to humanitarian crises that can be political, economic or religious. As people flee under stress to refugee camps, these camps are ill equipped for the realities of living that, while meant to be temporary, often become permanent home to thousands, indeed millions of people. In considering these inhumane conditions of living (author 2, 2014), a humanitarian design approach works for men, women and children under duress and in critical situations. These issues are examined in the context of a design workshop developed within a theory course on light and colour, exploring humanitarian design for a refugee camp from the perspective of visual sense-making (Van Patter & Pastor, 2014) and humanitarian approaches (Author, 2013). We present what happens when two seemingly divergent concepts come together: examining design solutions for a humanitarian crisis, and doing so using light, colour and form as foundational elements. Students are exposed to severe contexts and learn to apply theoretical concepts to practical issues. Design learning in this context engages students in issues of ethics and sustainability from perspectives of problem-based learning and understanding humanitarian, social, cultural, theoretical or practical contexts from multiple perspectives, thus becoming an agent of change.
Key words
Humanitarian design, transformational change, light and colour, design process
Article complet à télécharger, 7 pages (PDF – 449 Ko)