Refugee Shelter Design Image Wins Photography Competition

摘要

Dr Dima Albadra,University of Bath(Syrian refugee atAzraq refugee camp)1st People and Skills and overall winner A picture of a Syrian refugee using virtual reality to help researchers design a shelter has been chosen as the winner in the 2019 national science photography competition organised by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council(EPSRC),which is part of UK Research and Innovation.The photograph was taken by Dr Dima Albadra,a research associate in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath.It was taken at Azraq refugee camp in Jordan,where,as part of a participatory design workshop,refugees used virtual reality to give feedback and adapt suggested shelter typologies.Dr Albadra said: Participatory design is a two-way process allowing refugees to be part of the research team.It is credited with higher satisfaction in design outcomes and is an obvious way of encouraging socio-culturally sensitive solutions.This is usually difficult to achieve in a refugee camp context due to many practical and logistical issues.Over 160 refugees participated in our workshops,giving feedback on both design typologies and the participatory methods used,such as,physical models,architectural drawings and virtual reality.Dr Albadra took the photograph on October 30,2018 using a Canon EOS 7D Mark II camera.