Nancy Elias

Forced to flee the horrors of their country, hundreds of thousands of Syrian children live in Turkish refugee camps. Although technically safe —far from bombs and constant chaos—those children are slowly losing faith in their future: only education has the power to save them and restore their faith in humanity. The Amal project is meant as a pragmatic solution, a school that would operate on a small scale to achieve a big impact on the future of Syria. Its architecture, simple and based on the use of local materials, would allow it to be reproduced many times throughout the camp and its two main volumes—one containing the classrooms and the other, the public program—would always orient themselves in a relationship to the camp, so that the school would literally open itself to the community. Unifying the architectural ensemble, the playground would be covered in grass and would offer varying depths, simulating waves, to contrast with the barrenness and monotony of the camp. From afar, the school would be easy to spot thanks to a water tower on which the word 'amal' could be read, meaning ‘hope’ in arabic, reminding the community that they could keep believing in Syria’s future, which will be rebuilt with the future generation: Amal’s students.

At McGill University School of Architecture