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Idea by

Yasaman Esmaili, Rania Qawasma

Color my home

Yasaman is an award-winning Iranian architect and the founder of studio chahar, a practice focused on equity and innovation. Her community-based projects have received several awards including LafargeHolcim Regional Gold and Global Silver awards. Rania is a Palestinian-American architect working in the area of social equity. As the founder of Architecture for refugees-USA, she works on refugee advocacy. She is the creator of “This is Home”, an award-winning infographic guidebook for refugees.

Call for ideas 2019

Color My Home


Narrating the spatial story of the displaced

Color My Home


Narrating the spatial story of the displaced
Color my Home project empowers displaced children by narrating the architectural story of their journey.
File under
Type of project
  • Systemic changes

Through architecture workshops designed with ten to fourteen year old children (and their families), our project traces the path of recently displaced children through the means of design. We work with them to re-imagine the architecture they have inhibited and left behind and guide them to sketch and build their first ever architectural collages and write about their future “home”. Then, we interpret the result of the workshops into new architectural formats in the form of 3D digital and physical models.

By having a speculative look at the creation of the spaces we call home, the project will redefine the boundaries of one’s habitat based on her specific memories and cultural background. The goal is to build awareness around the issues of immigration and displacement, especially as experienced by children, through the means of architecture and spatial thinking, and to empower displaced communities to have a voice through design.



Kids mapping their immigration journey.

Kids working on their architectural collages in groups.

Kids working on their architectural collages in groups.

Writing poems about past and the future homes.

Drawing, writing and making.

Color My Home


Narrating the spatial story of the displaced

Color My Home


Narrating the spatial story of the displaced
Color my Home project empowers displaced children by narrating the architectural story of their journey.
File under
Type of project
  • Systemic changes

Through architecture workshops designed with ten to fourteen year old children (and their families), our project traces the path of recently displaced children through the means of design. We work with them to re-imagine the architecture they have inhibited and left behind and guide them to sketch and build their first ever architectural collages and write about their future “home”. Then, we interpret the result of the workshops into new architectural formats in the form of 3D digital and physical models.

By having a speculative look at the creation of the spaces we call home, the project will redefine the boundaries of one’s habitat based on her specific memories and cultural background. The goal is to build awareness around the issues of immigration and displacement, especially as experienced by children, through the means of architecture and spatial thinking, and to empower displaced communities to have a voice through design.



Kids mapping their immigration journey.

Kids working on their architectural collages in groups.

Kids working on their architectural collages in groups.

Writing poems about past and the future homes.

Drawing, writing and making.


Idea by

Yasaman Esmaili, Rania Qawasma
Color my home
Yasaman is an award-winning Iranian architect and the founder of studio chahar, a practice focused on equity and innovation. Her community-based projects have received several awards including LafargeHolcim Regional Gold and Global Silver awards. Rania is a Palestinian-American architect working in the area of social equity. As the founder of Architecture for refugees-USA, she works on refugee advocacy. She is the creator of “This is Home”, an award-winning infographic guidebook for refugees.