Chen-Yu Chiu
Introduction Reyhanlı is a small town located in the south-eastern Turkish province of Hatay adjacent to Syria. As the gateway to Aleppo in Syria, the town became the main entry point for asylum seekers during the escalating civil conflicts and subsequent Syrian war. In the past decade, the population in Reyhanlı has grown from 120,000 to 270,000 people. The recent Türkiye-Syria earthquakes in 2023 had severely damaged most cities in Hatay, and Reyhanli has received an estimated 200,000 environmental refugees. Cho and his student team at Bilkent University programmed and designed the Centre with the aim of stimulating socio-cultural, economic and political integration and inclusion between Syrians and Turkish locals. Research for the Centre’s architectural program and site investigation started in 2016, while the construction was between April 2020 and September 2021. Cho has continued his volunteering role as a donor and fundraiser, as well as serving as the Centre’s founding director and the principal architect. His team works closely with the Turkish government, NGOs, INGOs and the grassroots to realise a joint vision: to build quality, equality and sustainability of life for all. Today, the Centre runs a women’s association, cooperative and social enterprises, providing ongoing vocational, educational and recreational programs. Active collaboration with disadvantaged people The successful establishment of the Centre and women’s association, cooperative and social enterprise is the result of time-intensive collaboration between the Centre, Reyhanli municipality and the disadvantaged groups in the local communities. Cho’s team conducted a community survey over 3 years to identify and engage with the disadvantaged groups most suitable for participating in the Centre’s programming, design and construction process. Most participating groups were women and children, selected without discriminating whether they were from the Syrian or Turkish communities. The whole development initiatives set the foundation for building trust, creating a larger and yet more integrated and inclusive community. The Center’s managers, users and beneficiaries all participated in the centre establishment, thereby creating a social bond that promotes self-sufficiency. The joint ownership also created collective responsibility in generating incomes to fund the Centre’s activities. In effect, the Centre is not just a “transitional shelter” for people in need, but also a place that serves diverse functions, such as children’s education, women’s empowerment, community services, recreation and leisure. In 2023, the Center is engaging with >200 people, offering them basic living supports, and providing free educational and recreational activities to >300 children onsite. Foster the socially responsible role of built environment Reyhanli is in a semi-desert climate. Its summer is dry and hot with very limited precipitation, while its winter is cold with heavy rainfalls. In recent years, the weather conditions have become even more harsh due to climate change. Meanwhile, the whole Hatay provincial region has experienced serious drought and overuse of underground water. The local communities also overuse chemical fertilizers which contribute to soil acidification and soil crust. This further reduces the conservation of soil and water, as well as agricultural production. To foster the socially responsible role of built environment and to stimulate social modes of environmental practice, the Centre’s vegetable garden allows the locals to convert food waste into bio-fertilizer. The Centre has a program for recycling cooking oil from the neighbourhoods and nearby restaurants to produce eco-soaps. The Centre also encourages all its users to collect PET bottles as the ‘tickets’ for entering the Centre, as its attempt to address the fact that <5% of plastic waste is recycled in Türkiye. In 2023 summer, the Centre will complete its recycling station to benefit the wider communities. It will also have solar panel, rainwater collecting and grey water recycling system to improve its environmental sustainability. Encourage ‘ethical professionalism’ by favouring cooperation and practice in hand with ‘ethical trade’ The management team of the Centre has established a social enterprise, an association and a women’s cooperative at Türkiye, as well as an association and a social enterprise in Taiwan. In total, five entities have been created for fostering the ethical international trade for peacebuilding processes at Reyhanli. While establishing these entities in collaboration with the local NGOs, the team found several skilful craft-women and craft-men, who were then hired by the social enterprise in Türkiye to lead five working groups: weaving, embroidery, knitting, leather and recycling. These master craft-women and craft-men were tasked with teaching selected disadvantaged individuals in the local communities so that they could engage in paid craft production. To illustrate, the women’s cooperative provides the raw materials and paid salary to program participants from the income it generated from selling its products to the social enterprises in Türkiye and Taiwan. Trading these products not only provides sustainable revenue for the two social enterprises, but also allows the women’s cooperative to financially support the 5 working groups ongoingly. The products are also sold to an NGO established in Taiwan, which uses them as attractive gifts in return for donations, as its strategy to secure ongoing donation. The donation was then directly transferred to the NGO in Türkiye, as a sustainable source of funding for creating more meaningful programs and services at the Centre.
Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens
Europe
Public
Reyhanli / Turkey
2022
Since 2016, Dr. CHIU Chen-Yu (Cho) has worked voluntarily as the architect for consolidating the program and design of the Taiwan – Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens. Since 2020, he has further acted voluntarily as the founding Director of the Centre for implementing its humanitarian programs and collaboration of local NGOs, business sectors and grassroots. Cho has also worked as an architectural historian, exhibition curator/coordinator, competition organizer and full-time academician in the Department of Architecture at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, and the Technical University of Munich in Germany.
Selin Şahin, Muhammed Velid Abdi, MH Diaa Aldin Alshami, Yen-Tzu Liu, Tuba Alvanoğlu, Meng-Hsuan Yang, Pei-Xuan He, Shao-Jiun Luo, Lara Tseng, Dina Kuo, Angela Kuo, Jack Huang, Kiyarash Borna, Yıldız Kayalı, Kadir, Kayalı, Furkan Kırıkoğlu, Recep Öğüç, Cem Yılgın, Tural Doruk Aral, Ezgi Sıla Erdoğan, Zhiar Soran Awny, Ezgi Nur Güngör, Rümeysa Aydın, Seher Ulusoy, Nuraddin Kazimov, Gülnihan Atay, Sarp Tanrıdağ, Halil Kaan Taşkın, Pablo La Torre, Niha Zahrah Ladiwala, Yasmin Abdullayeva, Alperen Bayır, Berkay Kızılateş, Zeynep Demirci, Alperen Bayır, Bora Sayımlar, Buse Akçay Pehlivanoğlu, Hans Richter, Amansaryyev Vepa; and to give special thanks to Meltem Gürel, Ming-Pin Liao, Ying-Chun Hsieh, Chun-Hsiung Wang, Sheng-Yuan Huang
Taiwan Centre
Image of Architect/Designer (Portrait recommended): https://2acaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bears-452.jpg
Board 1 (PDF about the panel of project’s presentation and information): https://2acaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/A2-1.pdf
Board 2 (PDF about the panel of project’s presentation and information): https://2acaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/A2-2.pdf
Image of project (1500px width): https://2acaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Picture-2.jpg
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2A Continental Architectural Awards
Average rating: 5 reviews
b.lenhardt
Oct 12, 2023
Concept and Practicality Balance: 7
Innovativeness: 4
Climate Responsiveness: 4
l.araghian
Oct 6, 2023
Concept and Practicality Balance: 9
Innovativeness: 10
Climate Responsiveness: 9
1413794236
Oct 6, 2023
Concept and Practicality Balance: 9
Innovativeness: 8
Climate Responsiveness: 9
gisela.loehlein
Oct 6, 2023
Concept and Practicality Balance: 9
Innovativeness: 9
Climate Responsiveness: 9
innovative project that makes do with minimal design whilst making a grand gesture
Anonymous
Oct 6, 2023
Concept and Practicality Balance: 8
Innovativeness: 8
Climate Responsiveness: 8
I really like this