THE GUESTHOUSE PROJECT #1 : refugees, migration and new narratives of inclusion through design
SiteWorks (Art, Design, Technology, Culture, Community)
BRUNSWICK | MELBOURNE | AUSTRALIA | 2016
GUESTHOUSE + PLAYTIME = 2 PROJECTS
WINNER: CORE77 2017 DESIGN AWARDS, NEW YORK, BUILT ENVIRONMENT CATEGORY.
Project leader: Caroline Vains
In cooperation with Christof Mayer from Berlin based architecture collective RAUMLABOR, Berlin, Germany.
In partnership with Victorian Cooperative on Children’s Services for Ethnic Groups (VICSEG) and the women and children from VICSEG playgroups, Melbourne, Australia.
With students from the School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University, Melbourne: Gil McKenzie, Liam Marsh, Sharni Hodge, Karissa Cornell, Thea Wiradinata, Elissa Then, Lien Nguyen, Jacqueline Requeima, Kayla Pannuzzo, Tash Cohen, Ella Crothers, Niklas Schmidt, Luis Cedillo, Claire Wetta, Jiawen Zhou, Caroline Thomas, Xin Wei Kong, Roberta Lia, Zach Sama.
Construction assistance: Rob Sowter, Aron Hemingway, Nasir Sisi
Music: Asylum Seekers Resource Centre ASRC band | Catering: Social Studio | Graphics: Jess Wood, Toby Dean, Sharni Hodge, Caroline Vains |
Photography: Anna Fairbank, Caroline Vains
Overview: The Guesthouse Project #1 was a temporary urban intervention, consisting of a series of large-scale structures, a program of community events, and an exhibition of educational toys made for children in refugee playgroups. It was part of ongoing research seeking to understand conditions and develop new narratives around migration, hospitality, refuge, reciprocity, intersubjectivity, co-creation, identity-in-the-making, democracy, and inclusive cities. It aims to bring the social and the spatial together ways that foster an ethos of relationality amongst participants, visitors, and within the community.
Detail: The Guesthouse Project #1 was conducted in 2016, in Melbourne, Australia. It was a joint venture between local migrant communities, interior design honours students from RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Design, Berlin based architecture collective raumlabor, and local refugee services organisation VICSEG. It was a practice-led investigation to reimagine hospitality and the traditional guesthouse in the context of refugees and other migrants. It culminated in two primary design outcomes.
The first of these was a suite of full-scale pop-up structures that reimagined the traditional guesthouse (both spatially and as place of welcome) to reflect a new context; that of refugees, asylum seekers and other recent arrivals. These structures were designed and constructed in accord with sustainable building practices on the grounds of the art and culture precinct, SiteWorks, an old primary school in Melbourne’s inner city. Collectively, they spanned 30 metres long x 7 metres wide. They then provided the backdrop for two key events during which members of the wider community were invited to occupy the structures and use them as a platform to celebrate diversity through music, food and conversation.
The second design outcome, PLAYTIME, was a collection of educational toys for children in local refugee playgroups to use. Each piece was designed to be interpretive, process-based, age-appropriate, culturally nuanced and adaptive, and inspire wonder and delight. Collectively they were curated as an interactive exhibition for the final Guesthouse event (the multicultural Community Party and Family Day) and provide a thematic focal point for it.
After Family Day, the structures were dismantled and the materials recycled. The educational toys were gifted to the playgroup refugee women and children involved in their design development.
Supported by: Moreland City Council Celebrating Place initiative, Goethe-Institut Australia, The Michael Boltman Trust, VICSEG New Futures, GHG Building Recycling, RMIT University School of Architecture and Design through the SRC fund, RMIT University Interior Design (hons.) program.
Residency: The project involved a 3 month residency at SiteWorks, on the grounds of an repurposed primary school in Melbourne’s inner city suburb of Brunswick.
Media and awards:
Winner of the Build Environment Award in the CORE77 2017 Design Awards, New York: http://designawards.core77.com/Built-Environment/63863/The-Guesthouse- Project-Refugees-migration-and-inclusive-communities-through-design
Voted 3rd place in the top seven projects of the year by the journal, Australian Design Review: https://www.australiandesignreview.com/architecture/seven-adored-architectureprojects
Australian Design Review: https://www.australiandesignreview.com/architecture/building-a-place-of-welcome-the-guesthouse/
AMES Australia: http://amesnews.com.au/uncategorized/guesthouse-project-seeks-connectcommunities/
Top photo shows the nest-hideout-treehouse (pop-up structure 2). Photo by Anna Fairbank
There were six main structures that comprised The Guesthouse: 1) the inside-out lounge room, 2) the treehouse-nest-hideout, 3) the long walk-ramped bridge, 4) the backyard fire, 5) the stepped platform and window of the bar, 6) the person-hole and bridge between inside and outside. The first four were situated outside the school building and ran in the narrow strip of land alongside its rear wall. The last two were designed to rupture this wall and bridge outside and inside. Activities for the public events could accordingly be programmed both outside the building amongst the pop-ups, and inside the building in the adjacent run of old classrooms.
Research objective: The Guesthouse Project focused on how to open up the contemporary neoliberal city and make space for asylum seekers, refugees and other socially marginalised migrant communities. It investigated how the relational priorities, strategies and approaches of the interior designer in particular could be applied to design and construct a temporary urban space that instigated positive encounters with ‘otherness’ and invited participants into events of cross cultural sharing and exchange.
Family day and community party: For the multicultural family day and community party we invited a 10 piece band from the Asylum Seekers Resource centre to play. African food was prepared by a social enterprise
refugee training program called Social Studio. Cross-cultural exchanges were facilitated by students who ran a series of workshops and activities (signing the pop-ups with finger prints, face painting, pet rocks, dance and origami groups etc.). Local migrant community leaders attended and used their bilingual and social mediation skills to facilitate cross-cultural exchanges. Many migrant families approached those of us involved in the organising to thank us for hosting the event, and the parent recipients of the toys expressed how moved they were by the gifts.
opening night at the bar, photo by Anna Fairbank 
Pop-up 3) the long walk-ramped bridge, photo by Anna Fairbank 
Sustainability: The Guesthouse project was committed to using sustainable materials and construction practices from the outset. All materials sourced were recycled with the suppliers taking them back after use. The design also incorporated principles of pre-cycling i.e. using materials without damaging them so they can be used again. Furniture and ‘set dressing’ was found on the street and up-cycled, or borrowed from the local pub.
Construction with Christof Mayer (raumlabor) and RMIT students, photos by Caroline Vains
Socio-political value of the temporary design intervention: There are many questions surrounding the ongoing impact of temporary social design interventions. In this instance, the temporary Guesthouse intervention led to an invitation from the Governor of Victoria, the honourable Linda Dessau AO, to come to Government House in order to discuss a similar but permanent project for the grounds of Government House. This new project, the PEACE AND PROSPERITY KITCHEN GARDEN, took place the following year in 2017. For this project, I again lead a group of RMIT students, in this instance to design a series of pavilions, shade arbours, an outdoor kitchen, entrance and seating around the newly planted kitchen garden at the rear of Government House. The intention was to give the garden a human scale in its larger landscape context, to infuse it with a sense of place, and transform it into a suitable space for hosting the Kitchen Garden program. The primary aim of the program was to bring migrant and refugee women together to grow, cook, and share food. The program was intended also to reach out to include members of the wider community and, in doing so, assist all participants to foster cross cultural connections, understanding and learning.
COMMUNITY DAY AND FAMILY PARTY
OUTSIDE with Asylum Seekers Resource Centre ASRC Band, photos by James Henry and Caroline Vains
INSIDE, PLAYTIME, the exhibition of children’s play things made with and for the parents and children of the VICSEG Asylum Seeker Playgroups, photos by James Henry and Caroline Vains
GUESTHOUSE GRAPHICS AND POSTER DESIGN by Jess Wood, Toby Dean, Caroline Vains
GUESTHOUSE #1 was inspired by the project and people at die Gärtnerei, a project by raumlabor berlin in cooperation with S27 Bildung und Kunst, Neukölln Berlin 2014-18.
