Refugee shelters are being developed in northern Kenya as part of an ambitious project by UN-habitat and the Voluntary Architects’ Network to realize four dwelling types dubbed ‘the Turkana houses’ for a pilot neighborhood.
These shelters will house refugees who, because of perpetual conflict and civil war, can not return to their homes in Sudan. Kenya hosts over 540,000 refugees and asylum-seekers.’
UN-habitat has worked to develop the settlement’s master plan to accommodate 60,000 people. One of the main conditions of the development was that investments would be shared between the refugees and the local community equally. Both refugees and community members were hired to build their own houses, meaning that they will be able to maintain the structures going forward.
The region’s vernacular architecture helped inform the designs. These Turkana houses will provide long-term housing using rammed earth and other earthen materials, as well as paper tubes woven together clad with branches and timber frame filled-in with burnt bricks.
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