The New Tent: Architecture as Social Infrastructure

Architecture is mainly seen as a privilege for the wealthy. For refugees, migrants, and displaced populations, architecture becomes seemingly unachievable, and the spaces where people live are subjected to the randomness of necessity. This spatial randomness increases childhood risk factors related to health, sanitation, violence, education, and abuse. To use architecture as social infrastructure, COLAB Manifesto² has developed a flexible model, The New Tent, to address the need for designed, culturally appropriate, and dignified shelter for displaced and marginalized populations. Our spatial reconfiguration tackles child protection at the forefront by redefining the spaces in which children play and live and providing market opportunities for families to thrive. The pilot model was built as an emergency response to the refugee humanitarian crisis in Reynosa, Mexico, to amplify its range and address similar communities around Latin America, doubling down as a conflict mitigation strategy and emergency humanitarian response through the dissemination of architecture. Strategically placed on the southern bank of the Rio Grande and the northern border of Tamaulipas, Reynosa quickly became the hotspot for immigrants after Matamoros³. The migrant population continues to grow exponentially in 2021, from 700 refugees in May to nearly 5000 in August, according to the Border Report4.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.110.74

Volume Editors
Robert Gonzalez, Milton Curry & Monica Ponce de Leon

ISBN
978-1-944214-40-1