Threshold of Refuge

Abstract

From every carving and dislodged mass, there is memory left in void. As refugees, the Rohingya resettling in the United States have been displaced out of time and place. This project proposal aims to reconnect persons to place and community. Surrounded on all sides by remnant chestnut oak forest, the "rock oak" of the Appalachian, this establishment of subsidized multi-family resettlement housing, a mosque, and a Rohingya cultural center serves as the rock foundation from which to stabilize the chaos of the unknown. While memory embraces cultural identity, growth embraces new connections - defining a platform of past and future. Roof farms and open circulation plans visualize the seasons. The cropped grass field opens between the three buildings on the complex. They face each other across a green field - conversing in rows of tall oaks and stone brick colonnades in a gradient of public to private space. Children race the setting sunlight down steps and a communal dinner is served. For these wanderers, this is the threshold of refuge.