RAPID SHELTER DISPLACED PEOPLE SPRING 2024
Assignment 4:
Date: April 2, 2024
Due: April 23, 2024 submission, April 25, 2024 discussion

Due to an oversight there was a significant misprint that indicated that the due date for this exercise was April 25 and that the discussion was to be held on April 27. Therefore, to compensate for this error, there is an added grace period of 48 hours until April 25th to complete the submission of this exercise. The dates posted below under the submission requirement were originally and are now still correct.

Reflection & Pre-Final Submission

Within this exercise you are to develop a pre-final draft and more detailed sketch of your term project. Your approach can address the needs of any forcibly displaced community, such as victims of a natural disaster, pandemic, social and political persecution or conflict. Given the diverse areas of interest in the class, you may interpret the assignment somewhat freely. During this time period it is highly recommended you consult directly with Earl Mark and Madeleine Zahn during office hours and as needed to further establish your interpretation of the requirements. Depending upon the area of interest, you are welcome to consider developing your submission in tandem or direct collaboaration with another student in the class.

Expectations

1. Specify Spatial and/or Landscape Features of your Proposal

Develop your proposal for implementation minimally with consideration of the multiple-family, community or block level according to the UNHCR definition (see UNHCR Settlement Folio, UNHCR Shelter and Settlement Section, Geneva, Switzerland, March 2016) as described in Exercise 3. At what frequency, location and allocation of space would you envision your intervention in a refugee camp or alternative built environment setting? Illustrate your proposition as specific as you can according to your own current degree program and experience. That is, design students would be expected to contribute more to the visualization of their proposition with a site plan and schematic overlay based analysis. Non-design students should attempt to graphically diagram their proposition at a level commensurate with their experience level, such as in sketching a plan diagram or drawing of the spatial features of your proposition or relationships between entities that you are attempting to address. Those students with some GIS experience are strongly encouraged to use related mapping and data overlay techniques. (You may also experiment with AI visualization tools availble through UVA Copilot, using a verbal description as input to the Designer option, provided that you acknowledge it as your source.)

2. Develop variations

Develop at least two varations on a proposition that you can use to solicit feedback and generate discussion within the seminar. Prepare the alternatives at a highly schematic level to consider the implications of taking different pathways to reaching your objectives. Establish in parallel key questions you think your proposition is able to address. At the same time, identify some assumptions that underlie your approach that need to be further evaluated. In other words, use this timeframe to shake out your ideas as much a practical, and don't hesitate to engage new approaches and concepts that could result in a final proposal that has a different goal or goals than what you may have envisioned previously.

3. Site type or location selection.

Similar to the past exercise 3, relate your project to the built and natural environment where displaced people are located, such as at an UNHCR encampment or an alternative location. °

° While not a strict requirement, if each student developed a proposal in general reference to the spatial conditions of a "Community" of 16 shelters or aggregates of such Communities within an UNHCR encampment, it would allow all particpants in the seminar to compare issues in a way that is more relatable to one another and help to facilitate the exhange of ideas.

Submission requirement

1. A four to five page page summary should include the key proposition and precedents. It should establish a final calendar plan and deliverables.

2. The summary should include graphic representation of your proposition, either at a more general diagrammatic level for non-design majors, or more detailed specific hand consructed or computer models, drawings, maps, renderings, animations, CAD or GIS data files for design majors. Interpret the kind of represention that is appropropriate to your experience and project in consultation with Earl Mark and/or Madeleine Zahn. This should include original graphic representions that you develop.

3. The submission should be posted on April 23rd to the submit folder on the classes server for ARCH5500-8500-Mark-SPR2024 and under your sub-folder "submit/lastname_firstname/assignment4" or the parallel location in your drop-box Folder on the Collab server, whichever is more convenient. Email notification to Earl Mark and Madeleine Zahn notifying us of the the submission and file locations. Contact either one of us if you are still having difficulty with the Collab folder so that we can help you.

4. Prepare a brief power point or PDF file for presenting your approach to the class on April 25th.