Zaha Hadid Architects converts World Cup tents into refugee shelters

It is Wednesday, my dudes! From World’s Fair architecture in San Antonio to fancy historic estate renovations in Upstate New York, here’s the news you need to know today as we make our way toward the upcoming holiday week.

Zaha Hadid Architects donates its World Cup tents to organizations that assist refugees

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), in partnership with Education Above All (EAA), is donating 27 of the modular tents it designed for this year’s FIFA World Cup to refugee communities in Syria, Turkey and Yemen. The structures will be used as clinics, schools, and temporary shelters. International Organization for Migration (IOM) is taking 15 tents for ten schools and five clinics in Yemen and Turkey. Qatar Red Crescent is taking the remaining tents to Syria to serve as shelters.

Three ZHA-EAA tents are currently in use in Pakistan and Turkey for hundreds of Pakistani and Syrian refugee children.

“We have a like-minded partner in Education Above All who is committed to investing in innovative design for the better good of disadvantaged and vulnerable communities,” Zaha Hadid Architects Project Architect Gerry Cruz said in a press release. “Together, we developed a robust, cost-effective, and lightweight modular architectural system with fabric envelope to build structures that can be adapted in many variations to meet the conditions and lives of displaced children and children on the move.  We hope that these newly donated tents will bring safety, learning and play to thousands in Yemen, Syria and Turkey.”