Refugee camps are an example of ‘post crisis’
rehabilitative systems, which vainly attempt to
restore stability in a state of disaster (Azmara,
2012). Uprooted from their homes and thrust
into volatile and unfamiliar surroundings, civil
conflict and natural disasters have left millions of
refugees around the world destitute in their host
countries, stripped of their identity and humanity
and left with only the clothes on their backs.
Unlike in rural settlements, the urban settlement
patterns of refugees in Johannesburg have demonstrated
a unique gravitational shift from reliance
on local government assistance to a strong
and long standing affiliation with various religious
fraternities in the urban centres. This has then
resulted in the inquisitorial search of how well
have these urban churches served the needs of
the urban displaced communities?
By opening up their church buildings to refugees
as a place sanctity and solace, how has this spiritual
affiliation effected the reception, protection
and rehabilitation of psychologically and physically
traumatized refugees and asylum seekers?
Subsequently has Johannesburg as a city, made
provision for the sheltering and protecting of refugees,
should there ever again be a crisis of violent
xenophobic turmoil in the city’s townships?
This thesis seeks to explore the underlying
differences between designing a post crisis
emergency shelter and specifically developing a
transitory sanctuary tailored for urban refugees.
By merging the dissimilar approaches assumed
by secular refugee aiding organisations and the
religious fraternities, the design starts to illustrate
the symbolic connection between refuge and
solace; spirituality and rehabilitation, as well as
making note of the harmonies that exist within
humanitarian architecture and sacred architecture.
By understanding these fundamental parallels,
a premise is formed for the development of a
unique and prototypical urban refugee centre, located
in Hillbrow, at the heart of Johannesburg’s
eclectic foreign national communities.
The centre is comprised of several emergency
relief facilities, rehabilitative programmes as well
as an adaptive form of transitional accommodation
all encompasses within a spiritual, yet nondenominational
Christian church establishment;
a gesture which serves to highlight the ‘curative’
relationship between the spirituality, architecture and the user.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13659 |
| Date | 05 February 2014 |
| Creators | Mhlungu, Nontokozo |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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