The Unbuilt: Regenerating spaces
Contributors: Ahmad Laham, Aysar Alaify, Isshaq Albarbary, Qussay Abu Aker

“In the middle of the 1950s, UNRWA built new shelters for the people of the camp. Each family received a 9 square meters shelter, and every 15 families shared one bathroom. Today, an area with three untouched UNRWA shelters still exists in the middle of the camp as a manifestation of an “era” that the camp endured.
Beside the fact these shelters carry the history of the camp’s life, these kinds of compounds represent another conceptual understanding of the meaning of the common and the communal life that people experienced when living in these shelters.”

The initiatives included in these booklets are the result of a collective effort made by the Campus in Camps participants in dialogue with community members, associations and collaborators. They have been inspired through dialogue with Sandi Hilal, Munir Fasheh, Alessandro Petti and activated with Tamara Abu Laban, BraveNewAlps, Ayman Khalifah, Matteo Guidi, Sara Pellegrini, Giuliana Racco, Diego Segatto, Dena Qaddumi.

→ The three Shelters Project
One shared bathroom and a water reservoir, these shelters carry the history of the camp’s life, and represent another conceptual understanding of the meaning of the common and the communal life that people experienced when living in these shelters. What the group of the Unbuilt is trying to do is to reactivate this open spaces to enhance the social fabric, build relationships and recreate the meaning of common.

February, 17, 2014- Visiting Neighbors

The Unbuilt Group visited the houses surrounding the remaining three shelters in Dheisheh refugee camp in order to discuss the idea of open spaces in camps together with the community and, specifically, the neighbors of this site. The aim is to have them participate in creating the vision of this space, which represents the history of the ‘common’ in Dheisheh.

March 11, 2014- Furniture Workshop

The Unbuilt Group, together with Dan Doric, conducted a furniture making workshop in which all the pieces were made by recycling material – old wooden objects and rubber tires – abandoned by the camp community. The main motivation, considering the camp’s history, is to avoid it being filled with plastic or metal objects that do not fit into the context.