Behinf the wall
The issue of refugees has been the main focus of politics and media for the past few years, which made it a problematic subject that needs to be discussed, and dealt with by both migrating and hosting societies.
The thesis was based on finding a relevant problem to be solved by architecture, so the search started by looking at the big picture of refugee movements around the world, then it was focused on Easter Europe which happened to have rich history related to migration and displacement of people, especially in Thessaloniki where migration had been a repetitive event over the centuries.
A study has been carried out about the existing refugee camps in Thessaloniki regarding demography, regulations and other aspects. Eventually Diavata camp was chosen to be architecturally developed based on many features such as the fact that it was the biggest camp of its kind in Greece at a certain time, being a successful settlement compared to others in the region, and most importantly, its story of origin.
After collecting all the data many questions were left unanswered due to the lack of related experimental studies, so a journey was taken by the author to fill in the missing parts of the image about the life of refugees and their integration in Greece (the starting country of the refugee routes) and Germany (The destination country.
This trip across the Balkan region also had a great impact on understanding the urban context of the main hubs where migrants pass.
The project was finally designed based on personal critical observations and refugees’ catastrophic experiences highlighted in an abstract way through architecture.
