Buses, containers proposed for ‘different’ migrant centres

Buses, old containers and scaffolding systems were all possible alternatives to the tents used to house migrants in open centres, a workshop yesterday heard.

In an event themed ‘Towards frugality’, organised by a local and an Italian architecture firm, architects, students and artists were invited to come up with frugal, low-cost and easily implementable structures to house irregular migrants.

The brief given to participants was to provide alternative housingcompartments for Tent City, the hangar area and the Lister Barracks Detention Centre, all of which arein Ħal Far.

“By involving migrants in building their own dwelling spaces, it could help them regain their identity,” architect Cinzia Abbate, one of the organisers of the workshop, told The Sunday Times.

One proposal sees the soon-to-be-decommissioned Maltese buses being adapted as classrooms, dormitories or dining rooms, which could also be rearranged in different combinations to create different spaces.

Rubble features in another proposal, where construction debris is put in gabions which are then arranged – by the migrants themselves – to assemble a room of their own. Another proposal uses glass bottles and mortar for kitchens, WCs and common areas.

“With a frugal approach to architecture, you could certainly find incredibly beautiful, elegant, alternative solutions to build things with very little money that improve immigrants’ standard of living,” Ms Abbate said.

“It’s refreshing to see Italian and Maltese people collaborate on the issue of migration,” Ms Abbate said, in reference to the diplomatic disagreement on the issue between the two countries.

Another proposal uses adapted old containers stacked on top of each other to create housing blocks inside the crowded hangar in Ħal Far, which would also be adapted to let in light.

Tents are being phased out in Ħal Far and replaced by pre-fabricated housing units, similar to containers, which are considered more habitable and practical than recycling old containers. Apart from not providing ideal accommodation, tents are also costly to maintain.

Besides looking at migrant living conditions, the workshop also addressed the reutilisation of materials and resources for construction purposes.

Chamber of Architects president Vincent Cassar criticised the government for not practising what it preached when it came to waste management in construction.

“In Msida, two-storey houses which were not being used were just demolished, without any inkling of reuse of the materials involved: stone, brick, windows, balconies...

“It’s incredible, when we have a problem which is being brought forward, when we say we want to reuse and recycle... a government project doesn’t think how to reuse and recycle all this material which could have been very easily reused,” Mr Cassar said.

The results of the workshop are expected to be put forward to the authorities for consideration.