From 6-10 June 2022, the inaugural Norman Foster Shelters Workshop will take place at the Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos in Madrid, Spain. The five-day event will be supported by Holcim, and led by Better Shelter Co-founder and Managing Director, Johan Karlsson.
The workshop will bring together an international body of 10 young scholars in the architecture field, selected by a committee at the Foundation following hundreds of applications. The scholars will develop a concept for building 1,000 shelter units and a medical facility and mentored by Karlsson, with the aim of tackling the challenges of providing emergency shelter solutions for displaced communities, amidst the broader climate crisis. Noted by Karlsson on the workshop objectives:
“As an international community and humanitarian actors, we must do everything in our power to save lives, alleviate suffering and mitigate the effects of displacement. We must take action to reverse the course of the climate emergency, and the needs posed by ongoing crises must be met now.”
Johan Karlsson
To inspire the scholars, an RHU will be installed on the event grounds, providing a rare opportunity to witness the unique shelter unit outside of its usual deployment in camp settlements and humanitarian missions. The event will also be host to numerous seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutoring and architectural tours. Participating in public debates will be the Workshop’s Academic Body, attended by practitioners and sector luminaries, such as Shigeru Ban (who will have a live conversation with Norman Foster, moderated by Karlsson), Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, Elena Giral, Christophe Levy and John Orr.
Better Shelter will be at the event sharing updates across social channels.
More on the event here.
