In 1999, Architecture for Humanity sponsored an open competition to design five-year transitional housing for the returning Kosovars and other peoples whose homes were destroyed. More than 200 designers from 30 countries submitted plans. From these, a jury selected 10 finalists and 20 notable entries.
When hostilities in the region ended, three quarters of a million people or more spread out to towns, villages and farms all over Kosovo. Once the refuges returned, they faced conditions that made normal living impossible. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that 40 to 50% of the houses in the war-torn region were reduced to rubble. Mines and booby traps were widespread. Food was in short supply, and water systems were often either destroyed or poisoned, and electricity was unavailable in most places. The immediate challenge was to shelter families until they could make their old homes habitable.
More:
Transitional Housing in Kosovo
Architecture for Humanity Projects
- Rebuilding After the Earthquake in Bam, Iraq
- Designing Mobile HIV/AIDS Clinics in Africa
- Tsunami Reconstruction
