ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Irena Bauman interviews Grainne Hassett about her experiences as an architect in the refugee camp in Calais. They discuss what resilience means in the volatile, cramped and ‘temporary’ conditions of the camp. Reflecting on what kinds of architecture and buildings are needed in the conditions of the camp, Hassett remarks on the importance of building robustly, providing simple and basic comforts in order to have dry, warm and intact buildings. She notes that communal spaces and public spaces are deeply important to people as, although there is very high mobility in the camp, with people moving on very quickly, it is through communal spaces that people would find meaning and create relationships with each other and with society. Hassett shifts from the importance of building to the importance of ‘bearing witness’ to discuss the representations and mappings she and others made of the camp. She argues that it was important not to map the camp as a means to control it or intervene, but rather to allow representations to emerge from an ethical imperative to record history and bear witness. Hassett concludes that we need to widen our own narratives in the profession of architecture, and include representations that encompass more of the forces that shape a project and its conditions.
