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Threshold of Refuge

From every carving and dislodged mass, there is memory left in void. As refugees, the Rohingya resettling in the United States have been displaced out of time and place. This project proposal aims to reconnect persons to place and community. Surrounded on all sides by remnant chestnut oak forest, the "rock oak" of the Appalachian, this establishment of subsidized multi-family resettlement housing, a mosque, and a Rohingya cultural center serves as the rock foundation from which to stabilize the chaos of the unknown. While memory embraces cultural identity, growth embraces new connections - defining a platform of past and future. Roof farms and open circulation plans visualize the seasons. The cropped grass field opens between the three buildings on the complex. They face each other across a green field - conversing in rows of tall oaks and stone brick colonnades in a gradient of public to private space. Children race the setting sunlight down steps and a communal dinner is served. For these wanderers, this is the threshold of refuge. / Master of Architecture / Exported by violence, thousands of Rohingya refugees are adrift in temporality. In camps or on the run, there is detachment from place and corrosion of community and opportunity. Resettling in a new country, refugees face many challenges hand in hand with their new freedoms. In Alexandria, there is a site embedded into the slope of a remnant forest. It extends from the hill of the Northern Virginia Community College, a beacon of affordable education and equal opportunity. On this site, the newly resettled will find their footing and work towards new goals through rest in residence, spiritual healing in a prayer hall, and active learning in a Rohingyan cultural center. By carving a community, this designed establishment, a stronghold of Rohingya culture and identity can embed new stories and re-establish roots.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/85105
Date21 September 2018
CreatorsPark, Sangyoon
ContributorsArchitecture, Emmons, Paul F., Kelsch, Paul J., Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C.
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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