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PARTECIPANTS
The ongoing refugee crisis is described as the most important concern
since the Second World War, which has caused a great displacement
of people. Many of these immigrants have been departing towards
Mediterranean countries, as rst-line states, seeking for a chance to enter
the Europe. This situation has created a challenging condition for many
refugee accepting cities as well as for the migrants to get integrated within
the new society. This fact has had a great inuence on the sustainability
condition while the rapid and uncontrolled inows can overwhelm the host
countries’ capacities to integrate new arrivals. In this regard, some European
countries including Germany and Italy are coming about with strategies
for accommodation and integration of these refugees in their countries.
This paper aims to study and analyze two of the current case studies
reecting adaptive reuse strategies in European context for providing
refugees’ temporary housing facilities. In the context of this research, using
the existing building stock introduced as the dominant strategy which can
provide refugees with a proper shelter and also while providing the chance
for their urban integration can contribute to revitalization of urban areas
with the newcomers’ participation. By analyzing the Berlin’s largest refugee
shelter inside Tempelhof Airport as the rst case study, the major policies
in Germany for providing refugee housing in national and local levels have
been investigated. However, the second case study – Ex-Moi in Turin, is
characteristically different from the case of Tempelhof airport of Berlin; since
the refugees occupied the abondoned facility of the Olympic Village and
settled down there. Regarding the fact that there is an urgent need for long-
term policies and sustainable approaches to cope with the current refugee
crisis, this research tries to shed a light on the path towards providing
temporary housings by analyzing.
Haniyeh RAZAVIVAND FARD
Department of Architecture at Istanbul Technical
University, Istanbul, Turkey and Department of
Architecture and Design (DAD) at Politecnico di
Torino, Torino, Italy
Asma MEHAN
Department of Architecture and Design (DAD),
Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.
Adaptive reuse of abandoned
buildings for refugees: lessons
from european context
189Haniyeh RAZAVIVAND FARD – Asma MEHAN
1. Introduction
e ongoing refugee crisis in the Europe is described as one of the most important
socio-political concerns since the Second World War. Whether economic, climate, he-
gemonic, religious or political and geopolitical reasons, the current refugee problem re-
veals the current state of the world: current unrests because of the wars in Libya, Yamen,
Afghanistan, Iraq and many other and more severely recent ongoing war in Syria have
caused massive population displacements, where millions of people found themselves in
warzones and many of them started to migrate. is is what makes people ee their own
countries to other parts of the world, in search of peace, stability and better life condi-
tions. However, the growing Middle Eastern, Asian, and African Diasporas in Europe
have signicant socio-spatial consequences in immigrants’ destination countries. Based
on the UNHCR report on 27th August 2015, there were 8.6 million new movements
linked with the violence and conicts in 28 countries during 2015. More than half of
this portion (4.8 million) was from Middle east and North Africa [1] and particularly,
many of these population ow towards countries along the Mediterranean Sea.
ese high levels of immigration into the EU brought both benets and challeng-
es. Many economists believe that in view of the low birthrates and population ageing
concerns in the majority of EU countries, a large number of immigrants will preserve
the potential for European economic growth. At the same time, rapid and uncontrolled
inows can overwhelm the host countries’ capacities to integrate new arrivals. e EU’s
current legislative and institutional arrangements are not clearly set up to deal with
the refugee crisis situations. us, the local Europe-wide municipalities are not able to
properly receive the incoming families and individuals seeking for help.
For proposing an integrated solution to this new ongoing geopolitical crisis, there
are two interconnected steps. e rst is to recognize the roots that led to this huge
ux of immigration. As, many immigrants to Europe have come as the result of con-
icts and war in their homeland or for socio-economic reasons from the Middle East
and North Africa, with an intense desire to achieve a more stable life in the Europe.
Identifying the situation and burdens of this massive displacement on the rst-line
states like Turkey, Greece and Italy especially after Syrian civil war follows this issue.
What countries such as Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia or Hungary are experiencing now is
something that has been present for years in Greece, Macedonia and Italy especially in
Lampedusa. Regarding the fact that providing resources for accommodation, educa-
tion, employment, and security assistance for refugees would acknowledge the burdens
these front line countries bear and help ensuring their continuing stability, analyzing
the current situation in these states and recognizing their priorities and required neces-
sities are critical. However, this rst step although is the initial and very critical phase of
achieving a comprehensive solution, is not addressed in this article and requires more
detailed investigation in further studies.
e second step is analyzing the existing capacities and strategies of European coun-
tries that are accepting the inux of immigrants. e number of these immigrants is
growing and many of them are settled down in camp-like spaces or in temporary new
shelters. However, there are great stocks of vacant buildings or abandoned sites in Eu-
rope that can be considered as a solution. Using the existing building stock can provide
SUSPENDED LIVING IN TEMPORARY SPACE190
the asylum seekers and refugees with a proper shelter in one hand and also can contrib-
ute to revitalization of decaying locations with the newcomers’ participation, on the
other hand which consequently enhances socio-spatial sustainability. Adaptive reuse [2]
of vacant buildings can be a proper strategy that improves the integration of the immi-
grants to the existing society. As, many of the temporary shelters and camps are located
far from the society where the migrants encounter with the problem of transportation
and lack of opportunities for social interaction, as a basic need for getting integrated to
the new environment and developing the sense of place attachment [3].
In this respect, this paper is studying some response of migration policies that can
be a starting point to achieve a more sustainable solution for refugee shelters and facili-
ties based on the experiences of two identically dierent cases from Italy and Germany
in the European context.
2. Adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings for integration of refugees
in the local urban context
Starting from 1960 and 1970, due to the growing concern for the environment and
increasing fuel and material costs, the term ‘Adaptive Reuse’ came in to mainstream
architectural practice. Where abandoned or disused buildings can no longer function
with its original use, proposing a new function is inevitable in order to preserve the sig-
nicance of the historical buildings and enhance the urban resiliency [4]. Considering
the fact that abandoned properties impose numerous social and economic costs, the
recycling of an existing building allows it to serve contemporary uses is a component of
rehabilitation. Moreover, as abandonment increases in a neighborhood, more and more
owners become less willing to maintain their real state and eventually more and more
properties fall into eventual abandonment [5].
Nowadays many European cities are dealing with the current refugee crisis. Pro-
viding proper accommodation facilities in a resilient integration process is one of the
main challenges of the destination countries and is important step towards the social
equity. Many of these displaced people are settled down in urban areas and the role of
local municipalities in addressing their housing needs is very critical. e equally place-
ment of them within urban fabric is very important in creating an integration between
newcomers and the host communities and preventing further socio-cultural and spatial
problems. In this context, abandoned buildings and pre-existing public structures can
oer special opportunity in terms of providing a proper accommodation, accessibility
to public services and a chance for social integration for refugees.
Based on the UNHCR report on 27th August 2015: “With almost 60 million peo-
ple forcibly displaced globally and boat crossing of the Mediterranean in the headlines
almost daily, it is becoming increasingly common to see the terms refuges and migrant
being used interchangeably in media and public discourse” [1]. With such increas-
ing numbers of refugees within Europe, nding appropriate and aordable temporary
housing and long-term solutions became a great challenge. Of the many challenges to
be dealt with is creating more concrete strategies in both national and local level across
Europe in congruence with each other. e provision of Housing Distribution Policies
191Haniyeh RAZAVIVAND FARD – Asma MEHAN
among the European countries represented a considerable dierence in temporary and
permanent refugee housing. e challenge is more noticeable in addressing the housing
needs in the cities’ level where they are coping with the shortage of housing capacities
in one hand and on the other hand, they are dealing with the insucient national strat-
egies or problems with the implementation of the policies in local level.
In some countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden municipalities
provide temporary shelters to house ux of incoming refugees. However, in some EU
countries like Portugal and Czech Republic, refugees are supposed to nd their own
private ats through reception centers. In the case of France and Spain, temporary
reception facilities will host refugees and asylum seekers. At local level, each EU coun-
try chooses a dierent way towards the Housing Allocation Regulations to receive and
accommodate refugees. However, all across the Europe, cities are facing vacant property
crises due to the massive population decline. In 2014, Britain’s Guardian Newspaper
says that 1.8 million homes are empty in Germany-more than 3.4 million in Spain,
over 2 million in both France and Italy and more than 700,000 in the UK [6]. e
problems resulted from these vacant properties has appeared as dierent urban crisis
in three dimensions of environmental, social and economic, which has made these
communities unsustainable and instable and made experts think about other methods
of urban development patterns [7]. On the other hand, since adaptive reuse of older
buildings is a sustainable option that enhances the urban regeneration process, it pro-
vides a platform for achieving sustainable development [8].Moreover, due to the con-
temporary economic crisis, new strategies for adaptive reuse processes are required [9].
In this respect, the vacant buildings oer unique opportunity for providing a commu-
nity building for new occupants. It enhances the connection of the refugees to the neigh-
borhoods and assists the creation of their identity and sense of attachment with the new
urban space. Moreover, it facilitates the acceptance of the newcomers by the local inhabit-
ant as a part of their local community. It also benets the refugees by the ease of access to
public social, cultural and economic services. us, incorporating the refugees within the
urban context while enhancing their socio-cultural status can promote the social cohesion
and prevents the marginalization. Furthermore, providing the possibility of participating
in economic activities and employment opportunities for refugees through a systematic
process of initial training and leading them to be involved in the economic activities of
the local community (regarding their skills) in one hand can decrease the dependence of
refugees on the governmental aids in a period of time and on the other hand, as a new
labor force, can contribute to the economic growth of the local community.
Currently, countries like Spain and Italy are utilizing existing vacant buildings to
accommodate refugees. On the other hand, due the lack of accommodation space in
cities like Berlin, the municipality provides the temporary shelters for refugees with a
completely dierent perspective [Table 1]. e following chapter aims to introduce
two current case studies in Berlin and Turin as the temporarily housed the refugees in
the vacant buildings. rough comparison of two current case studies in Germany and
Italy, this research tries to analyze the advantages and challenges of the adaptive reuse of
abandoned buildings, as the temporary housing policy for refugees.
SUSPENDED LIVING IN TEMPORARY SPACE192
3. Germany’s largest refugee shelter inside Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport
Originally built between 1936 and 1941, Tempelhof as part of Albert Speer’s plan
for the reconstruction of Berlin as the ‘World Capital’ during the Nazi era, was built
by Professor Ernst Sagebiel as the one of the most iconic pre-World War II airports in
Europe. It’s monumental terminal was refashioned by Nazi architects in the 1930s to
serve as grand gateway for Hitler’s third Reich. However, after the war, the airport was
utilized by cold war American forces for the massive airlift of supplies to occupy West
Berlin during the USSR blockade of 1948-1949 [10]. Although the airport ocially
closed on 2008, in May 2014, after years of ghting, majority of ocials chose to keep
the site unchanged. During this time, the terminals arcing hangers have been often
used to host large-scale events such as World Architecture Festival.
Fig. 1 / Refugee shelters inside
Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport. ©
Gordon Welters for the New York
Times
Tab. 1 / Germany’s major policies for providing refugee housing in national and local levels. © The
International Federation of Housing and Planning (IFHP) Annual Report.
193Haniyeh RAZAVIVAND FARD – Asma MEHAN
Based on the ocial statistics, in 2015, more than 1 million refugees arrived in
German with hopes of a better life [11] (Fig. 1, Tab. 1). Based on the report by Deutsche
Welle [12] Berlin’s Mayor, Michael Müller states that the majority of refugees are hous-
ing in temporary refugee accommodation and mass shelters and the rest are living in
private ats. However, starting from 2015, the airport’s shuttered hangers are being
reused to temporarily house the largest emergency refugee shelter in Germany [13].
4. Occupying abandoned Olympic Village by refugees in Turin
e Olympic Village, now called Ex-Moi (Fig. 3), initially has been designed as a
part of a project for Torino urban transformation while conveying sustainability in-
tentions. e MOI site has been selected for the project site in the Lingotto District
because of availability of vacant buildings of the Ex-Moi and its proper connection
through transportation means. For this purpose, the Olympic village, composed of six
or seven-stories buildings in 6 phase, is constructed with the initial objective of hosting
journalists and athletes for sixteen days during the Torino Winter Olympic Games of
2006 (Fig. 2). It was a 140.5-million-euro project as a part of urban planning projects
for large specic events that nanced through public spending. It was supposed to get
re-functioned for post-Olympic use which never happened. e establishment aban-
doned after the Games for almost 7 years till it got occupied in 2013 by the North
African refugees [14]. e occupiers were more than 1000 people [15] from almost 30
dierent ethnic groups, with a large number of women and children and inhabited in
the four buildings of the setting in a poor living condition. ese refugees had lost their
primary residences, which was provided by the Italian government as a short period ac-
commodation assistance and had no other choice than nding a shelter for themselves.
Initially, after the occupying the facility, there were no objections by the political
parties and the residents of the district. Neighbors even oered to help the refugees
with rst need goods and local authorities provided the basic services like water, until
crimes had reported in the neighborhood. is fact caused much opposition by media
and political parties like Lega Nord and the local court of Turin issued an eviction order
and the sequestration of the buildings, which has not executed yet.
is case well manifests the social and spatial segregation of these squatting people
where they live in a modern ghetto-like settlement, surrounded by the railways. e de-
bates about this informal settlement are still ongoing; some political parties are oppos-
ing and many social activists are on the refugees’ side to compensate the insuciency
of the local supporting polices.
is specic case study highlights the importance of policies adopted in national
and local level in Italy and their impact on the destiny of refuges after being accepted.
Actually, the policies regarding accepting refuges in Italy, like many other countries,
is not clearly dened. e rst rescue and assistance is done in CPSA, which is a very
short period hosting place. en, rst reception centers and temporary accommoda-
tion structure (CAS) is taking place, managed by public local entities. e second-line
reception is SPRAR. Depending on the forms of protection, the presence of refugees
is allowed in Italy for 5 years. But SPRAR provides assistance for the rst 6-12 months
in which they are not allowed to work and their well-being is provided by the State.
SUSPENDED LIVING IN TEMPORARY SPACE194
SPRAR is responsible for providing accommodation, counseling, language and profes-
sional training [Table 2]. After this short-term assistance, the asylum seekers are obliged
to meet their own accommodation and employment needs. Indeed, many of these
people are faced with many diculties to overcome and it may result in what happened
in the case like Ex-Moi. It can be stated that the gap between national legal framework
and local implementation of policies has a signicant impact on deciency of foreseen
policies [16].
Fig. 2 / Torino Olympics Village, 2006, Before
Occupation (Resource: https://thesocietypages.org/
clippings/2016/03/23/olympic-village-occupy/).
Tab. 2 / Italy’s major policies for providing refugee housing in national and local levels [17][18].
Fig. 3 / Ex-Moi, after being occupied by refugees
in 2013 (Resource: http://viedifuga.org/ex-moi-di-
torino-in-via-giordano-bruno-non-ce-la-guerra-civile/)
195Haniyeh RAZAVIVAND FARD – Asma MEHAN
5. Conclusions
e current strike refugee crisis and mass immigration has deeply aect the Europe.
Particularly the countries such as Italy and Greece which are the gateways for these
displaced people or countries like Germany that is a target destination of the large
migrant groups because of its hospitality strategies are encountering more challenges.
For getting the best positive eects out of this crisis, this paper aims to emphasize on
urban integration, social equity and resilience in global scale. For achieving the sustain-
able development in refuge cities, urban integration is a key criterion. However, the
capacity of countries to react quickly and adapt their systems and societies to absorb
dierent kinds of shocks, their Resilience in other words is also an important factor.
Becoming more resilient means that a city strives to enhance its ability to bounce back
and grow even stronger and better in the face of the chronic stresses and acute shocks.
e adaptive reuse of pre-existing buildings for housing refuges as described in two case
studies presents a wide range of opportunities for both the newcomers and also for the
local community.
In the case of Tempelhof airport, its massive area and largely arcing hangers has the
potential to provide refugee shelters in its massive hangers. As well, the new chapter for
the former cold war airport is another remarkable shift that manifested the power of
symbolic transformation and humanitarian uplift and makes Berlin the new stage for
political possibilities and a moral leader of a new democratic world. Moreover, selec-
tion of the highly politicized and contentious sites like Tempelhof airport, which was
the international symbol of totalitarian megalomania and cold war propaganda as the
refugee camp, intensies the complexity of its associations. In this respect, architecture
can become a useful link to integrate refugees in host cities and to encourage positive
interactions between refugees and host city. However, regarding the fact that mass ac-
commodation lead to the increasing tensions among refugees, aordable private ats
can be a better solution to integrate them in host city.
On the other hand, the case of Ex-Moi in Turin, Italy, is characteristically dier-
ent from the case of Tempelhof airport of Berlin. Although in the Ex-Moi case, the
functionality of the existing facility has changed but it has occurred through illegal
mechanism of invading and squatting. Here, after the short-period of assistance that
were served by the State, refugees had to meet their own housing needs without su-
cient resources and institutional support. As a result, these refuges who were incapable
of obtaining accommodation, invaded the abandoned facility of the Olympics Village
and resettled down there. is case demonstrates the deciency of reception solutions
and the systematic policies, in long-term, in supporting refugees’ social and housing
needs and highlights the gap between national laws and local implementations that
creates a discriminatory state in the path towards social inclusion [19]. e case is a
well manifestation of social and spatial exclusion of these refugees aected by the local
control policies and social alienation processes. So, migrants are the passive actors of
urban transformation through appropriation and formation of informal settlements
and creating conicts. Moreover, refugees have used squatting as a mean to announce
their voice and achieve social identication.
SUSPENDED LIVING IN TEMPORARY SPACE196
e two cases have emphasized on the capability of adaptive reusing of existing
building stock in providing temporary housing solution for refugee crisis. In this re-
spect, it is necessary to well dene the housing policies that clearly support refugees
and the assistance of non-prot organizations like NGO’s and social cooperatives can
be also a matter of importance regarding their precious experience. Analyses suggest
that increased prices for building houses and expensive construction due to the energy
restrictions in buildings is the main challenge that Germany is currently struggling
for providing refugee housing in national and local level. In the case of Italy, housing
shortage, spatial exclusion, fragmentation and lack of support for social inclusion of ref-
ugees are the major challenges. Moreover, it is noticeable that the presence of refugees is
useful for the European economy. So, there is a possibility for the economic growth and
also for the revitalization of the abandoned spaces through the presence of newcomers
and their social integration with the excising society.
197Haniyeh RAZAVIVAND FARD – Asma MEHAN
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