| PORTFOLIO architecture shadad | |
| auschwitz vc baobab beauty farm bus stop city gateway cityzen csf dandelion dbew elemental employment agency europan 10 evolo 10 ghost tv granny hostel greening the city industrial infobox kub memory hall mikkelstjenn mobile tent mofo multipurpose building off-on opalka polish army museum psycholab rotunda sculptors pavilion shadad sixstar skynet step21 housing superscape 2016 tennis hall uufo vault viewpoint walden 2.0 water shed woods house yerevan complex zakrzowek zodiak |
Refugee camps are mirage cities appearing in the desert. Zaatari in Jordan houses 80 000 Syrians that escaped war. It was established 3,5 years ago. It is a superfast urbanism with hundreds of people coming every day, dozens of caravans brought and moved around. It's economy is growing. Colorful banners grow on white containers. Still there is nowhere to hide from the sun, no shade over public space. Why? It's not profitable. What if we combine shad-e with ad-vertisement: shad-ad? Wild west towns were also set up in the desert. Their architecture was poo, but their street fronts were colorful attractive. Modern cities are covered in billboards. Often scaffolding is covered with a print of the actual. Banners are inherent to protesting. Getting your message across mass media involves advertising strategies. Greenpeace knows how to use it. How can refugees do it? Narrow streets of mirage city are created by constructing new facades using billboard technology. A Sunbrella fabric is stretched on a steel frame to achieve esthetic effect and shade the street. The patterns can create a beautiful effect in a way resembling traditional Arab patterns. The logo of a sponsor of the facade is embedded in the surface or it can be a standalone banner - it is not addressed to the inhabitants of the camp but it appears on the photos taken there and circulating in the internet and other media. Satellite imaging is a new frontier, the patterned fabric of earth itself. Whether it is seen from Google Maps, a bomber or a drone it is a medium you can get your message across. It can be commercial billboard providing money for the camp or a protesting banner made by refugees, activists or NGOs.    |