For years and years, the word temporary has been paired with Refugee Camps. However, how correct is this pairing when the average stay in refugee camps in protracted situations can go up on average to almost 17 years?!
"Temporary" _ _ years is an interactive experience that aims to raise awareness about refugee camps by relying on UNHCR statistics, by contrasting and redefining the sense of space, time, and even word pairing.
Redefining personal space
"the covered living area allocated in refugee camps to one person is 3.5 square meters." - UNHCR
To put the visitor in perspective of space, I used tape with printing on it: "You are standing on a 3.5 square meters the same amount of covered living area allocated in refugee camps to one person" to mark what 3.5 square meters is, and help the visitor understand the space.
Redefining time
"Every minute 20 people get displaced around the world" - UNHCR
While a minute means almost nothing to many, it means so much to others who live in areas of conflict. Using contrast to redefinition time, and to put the visitor in perspective of time, i used the sign "what does a minute mean to you" to direct the question at the audience.
Two minutes later...
After reading the sign, the visitor then engages in watching a 2 minute film, that tells a story to define what a minute means to two people living in two different parts of the world. Intentionally, the video is two minutes long, to bring back the viewer to real time.
Make a difference
The poor pairing of the words - temporary and refugee camps - resulted in temporary solutions to problems in camps for many years. However, for sometime now, many designers and innovators have been working on sustainable solutions for this huge global problem. our call to action is designing one platform that combines all sustainable project in one place to allow people a quick and easy access to the variety of projects on one platform. This app aims to first, educate about problems in refugee camps, and share the sustainable solutions. Second, to create a space for action taking by donating, volunteering, or to simply sharing ideas and supporting the community.
For further details about the design of the app, please, visit the following project
