Common Grounds

My second-year masters project responds to the challenges surrounding refugee accommodation and integration within host communities. Public narratives often frame displaced individuals as outsiders, resulting in housing models that prioritise temporary shelter and separation over dignity, belonging, and long-term social integration. Situated on the former site of the Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate, a place historically associated with care, education, and collective support, the project reimagines
refugee accommodation as a civic act embedded within the town rather than hidden at its margins.

Research into displacement, community participation, transitional housing, and social infrastructure
informed the design approach. The proposal seeks to foster meaningful relationships between residents and the wider community through a series of shared spaces, programmes, and productive landscapes that encourage everyday interaction, cultural exchange, and collective activity.

Organised around the four conditions of Home, Exchange, Encounter, and Growth, the scheme creates a spectrum of spaces ranging from private refuge to public engagement. A modular timber construction system allows the architecture to adapt to changing residential and community needs over time, while promoting sustainability through disassembly and reuse. Beyond refugee accommodation, the project explores how architecture can act as a framework for care, belonging, and social resilience, positioning housing as an active contributor to civic life.