Masahetna Competition

Arabic for “Our Space”

“How can a housing unit, in a temporary refugee camp, feel like” Home”?” With this question, Masahetna Competition started.

When COVID-19 hit our lives, everyone struggled with different aspects of the new normal, but for the residents of Azraq Refugee Camp, the pandemic hit harder. Not only did they face bitter economic hardship, but also the phrase “Stay at Home” did not mean the same to them; when they are constantly reminded that they are but temporary residents in the camp. This is where the idea of this competition came from. Why not present caregivers a creative way to bond with their kids, and create the feeling of “home” through a safe play area for the kids.

We launched a competition inside the camp where we delivered a similar kit for each participant to create a unique space inside their designated housing unit. Each kit contained:

A cardboard box
A rope
4 Paints: white, blue, red, yellow
Black Paint that turns to chalk board
Chalk box
2 Bags of seeds
A pot
4 Hula hoops
2 Large and 2 small pinwheels
Pipes and connectors: 7*1 m pipes
Tape
A plastic apron

The contents of the kits that were handed out to participants

Then I, as a designer, stepped down from designing, and gave the space for the people to define the space and create it. By the end of this, we had 19 new spaces, spread out indoors and outdoors. I and the team were impressed by the results that exceeded our expectations, and we realized that sometimes our role should be conveners rather than implementers.

In addition to the face-to-face feedback we got from the participants after the competition, we created a survey in which I am sharing some of the questions and answers. I am sharing below some of the feedback we got. If I were to name the main thing I learned from this project, it would be that designers could just take the role of supporting facilitators and let people design for their own needs and desires.