From 2011 to 2016, the Syrian conflict led to 220,000 deaths and the displacement of 7.6 million individuals, ¾ of whom were women and children. Marya Zarif is an Aleppo native who co-founded the Let me Play Foundation to provide refugee children with the play areas needed for their development and to help them overcome their trauma. A joint creative team including Let me Play, ASFQ, a large team of volunteers, child psychologists, occupational therapists and specialists in play areas and environmental design came together in partnership with the local SARD association to design a functional and technical plan including all the information required to design a play area at the Ariha camp. A creative design workshop including 40 participants, was held in May 2016 to draw on the best ideas from a creative cart organized in Montreal to design the final plans. The project was then built in Ariha, providing a space for 146 children at the Ariha refugee camp to play. The objective is now to build more similar play areas at other Syrian camps.

Architekti bez hranic (ABH) - Czechia is a nonprofit organization that brings together young architects and designers interested in public space and social architecture. ABH strive to improve the quality of public space as well as to strengthen people-to-people relationships, increase public interest in architecture-related topics, and initiate and implement projects for disadvantaged people. The contribution of ABH to improving this situation is awareness-raising and popularization activities (organizing lectures for the public, publishing and academic activities), networking with experts from other professions, initiating and implementing projects in public space.

The association is organized a long term series of lectures on actual issues related to architecture and public space. Two experts - one of the architects and urban planners and an expert in his field - are invited to the debate. Topics were following: Homelessness and Public Space, Commercialization of Public Space, Social Responsibility of Architecture, Functional Tourism, etc.  

In  cooperation  with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, ABH were in charge of organizing and implementing an e-publication about Homelessness and Public Space. The work also included a public seminar of the topic.

Under the motto „Together we will transform“, ABH co-organize an architectural workshop of participatory architecture in cc. The aim of the workshop was to prepare an alternative plan for a revitalization of the social excluded site. The town hall planned to demolish the existing houses and evict the locals. Therefore, in collaboration with experts, they have shown other strategies for the neighborhood.

The public wardrobe is another project of the association Architekti bez hranic. Thanks to donor financial support, we repair the existing and place new wardrobes in cities. The principle is simple: Leave what you want, take what you need!”

What is the impact of architecture on the quality of life in cities? How can architecture be an important instrument for improving everyone’s living conditions? “Cidade Sem Fronteiras” promotes knowledge about the city and a reflection on what a City Without Borders would be.
It uses the set of buildings of Companhia Vinicola, where Casa da Arquitectura is and the city of Matosinhos to playfully think about the relationship of buildings, and other key pieces in urban composition, with cities and learn concepts such as scale, heritage and inclusion, among others that are part of the vocabulary of architecture and cities in general.
This way Arquitectos Sem Fronteiras Portugal joins the second anniversary of the Portuguese Center of Architecture, with an activity in which one can think about what architecture can do for a better city and leave suggestions for urban spaces where social, cultural, environmental, and other impacts of the proposals that are part of this expected city are taken into consideration.
The activity took place in the Reading Room of Casa da Arquitectura Library, the 16th and the 17th of November, among many other activities that happened simultaneously and continuously in the block of the Portuguese Architecture Center throughout the weekend. Congratulations to Casa da Arquitectura!
We hope to continue to celebrate the importance of raising awareness of current and future architects to the responsibility of managing all decisive impacts on the quality of life in cities in their proposals.