This project explores an integrated and inclusive system of accommodation and protection for refugees arriving on the Greek island Lesvos. By providing dignified dwellings in the urban context of Mitilini, this project aims to improve refugees quality of life and their opportunity to foster a sense of belonging, while empowering them as active participants in their own resettlement process.
Lesvos is an island in the Aegean Sea, located in front of the turkish coast. Between 2015–2016, over a million asylum seekers and migrants crossed the border to Europe through Greece and a large part of them landed on Lesvos.
Europe has in the recent years offered undignified and inhumane living conditions for asylum seekers on Lesvos. Amongst other, The Moria Camp and the current Camp Kara Tepe. Currently a new Closed Controlled Access Centre is under construction on Lesvos and is intended to replace the more temporary camp, Kara Tepe. The centre is located in the middle of a forest and with a distance of around 20 km from Mitilini.
This project is a counter-proposal who argues that a strategic approach with a more welcoming and inclusive arrival system, within the urban fabric if Mitilini, can ensure dignified living conditions and the possibility of creating an economic foundation, while applying for asylum.
