PhD in Architecture. History and Project | Politecnico di Torino
… a meeting with
Sandi Hilal
17 thoughts on “… a meeting with”
s284927
In my opinion the conference given by the guest Sandi Hilal was very important for the issues addressed on the history of decolonization in Palestine and the role of architects, but above all the reflection on the theme of public and private. Moreover, how important is the role of integration and exchange of ideas, traditions and how fundamental a part of the house is, that is the living room that is generally connected to the family environment where the objects of the family are exposed and where you receive guests then the theme of hospitality, from here his reflection on how we should feel in every place we are and in this regard it was very interesting to see the video of Sweden and the hospitality offered by Syrian refugees who opened their stay to receive people and share the traditions and their ideas and how this movement has led to the creation of numerous stays.
I followed Sandi Hilal’s speech carefully. I found it interesting how the possibility of hosting, for people like refugees, is not something taken for granted. Indeed for them, it is a right to claim, necessary to regain their dignity and build the foundations for a new life and a place in society. The “living room” project presented was surprising, since, unlike the other projects which were based on the modification of the building through the use of technologies or new materials, in the case of the Swedish, what was modified was a way of thinking and acting. All this takes place through the construction of a common, shared, and open space, an excellent metaphor for integration into society. Architects often limit themselves to designing following technical directives, neglecting the most important aspect, i.e. that spaces are made to be used by people with different cultures, uses, and origins and that often the technique does not take these aspects into account, with the result of obtaining functional spaces that are not useful to people.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was interesting . Designing for diversity and inclusivity is an important aspect of creating spaces that are functional and meaningful for the people who use them. By prioritizing human-centered design and working closely with the communities they are designing for, architects can create spaces that are Overall, designing for diversity and inclusivity is an important aspect of creating spaces that are functional and meaningful for the people who use them. By prioritizing human-centered design and working closely with the communities they are designing for, architects can create spaces that are not only technically sound, but also culturally and socially relevant.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture which is called “Learning from the Living Room: Architecture, Art, and Social Justice” was an interesting and inspiring presentation to see how refugees create a place in area which is called “Living room project” that volunteers who can cook and share their cultures with all the people in region. Before the “Living room project” building for refugees looked like an empty, small and lonely rooms. There was no activity for people so it was very sad but with creating the project people had a great time together with sharing all their experiences and cultures from different area. Sandi Hilal mentioned some private and public separation in an architecture and she talked about how it can be used public and private using as a common place. It was an exciting thing to see how architecture can be effective in society without design or build a new building but create a thinking.
This week’s lecture was a rather emotional one. Sandi Hilal gave an incredibly important speech regarding the role of private spaces and how they help people thrive in their communities. Especially in the case of refugees, who lose the sense of belonging and even the ability to host people once they cross the border. The Living Room Project, explained by Hilal, managed to shift the entire dynamic of a space and a community and helped them regain their agency through their own private spaces. An important question posed by the lecturer was “Is integration bringing old and new together?” The project deals with the role of the domestic space, statelessness and the feeling of not belonging in the “public” space. Another important argument brought forward was that, public spaces are not neutral and that people are expected to blend in. As an international student with the majority of my social circle being from different backgrounds, this resonated with me a lot.
“We will become a real multicultural world when people will be able to create their own public space.” This is one of the phrases that most struck me from the lecture by Sandi Hilal, an architect and researcher who, with her studio DAAR, constantly addresses and emphasizes the relevant political role played by architecture in the phenomenon of decolonization in Palestine and Europe. An intervention that brings to question the role of domestic spaces as a possibility, for refugees and immigrants, of integration into the society in which they live. The “living room” project is about just that and about the host-guest relationship. Sandi Hilal emphasizes how
the possibility of constructing personal public spaces for themselves becomes an opportunity for refugees to regain the right to be hosts and not feel like guests only. Another phrase that struck me is precisely, “Hospitality last three days, then it becomes charity”.
I found the lecture by Sandi Hilal very interesting for many reasons. First of all, the theme of decolonization, in particular in Palestine, and how architects and architecture can have an important role in it, something I never thought about. Then, the topic of public and private, which made me think of how very often public spaces are often actually not designed for all the people who frequent them, as they are shaped in the more accordant way to the prevalent population. Finally, the project living room was enlightening about the theme of hosting, which is something fundamental to people to have the feeling to have their own place to live, by the chance of have guests and share their own culture, like we have seen in the film about the Syrian refugees in Sweden.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was different than the previous lectures we have seen in the ACC lectures in the way that she started her speech like a story-telling and then integrated the main ideas into her life story and her experiences and work. It was interesting to see the role of architects in the inclusion of refugees in the society. The project of the “Living Room” in Sweden was inspiring for this purpose of inclusion. It was provided by building this common space for everyone to get together and share cultures and traditions. The ideas presented in the story-telling of Sandi Hilal made me reflect on this topic relating it to architecture and the influence of architects.
Sandi Hilal in her lecture introduces the subject of decolonisation of architecture in Palestine as well as in Europe. The architect explored in an interesting way how the house, specially the living room, can become a connection zone between public and private environments. The debate proposes us to reanalyse this polarisation, inviting us to explore the many intermediate categories of space. Hilal explains how modern architecture tends to frame every aspect of life, and suggest us to challenge this typologies of space, considering not only the temporaryness as a real architectural condition, as well as the possibility to create the overlapping of public and private to create the common space.
Sandi Hilal’s conference on decolonization in Palestine and the role of architects was a significant speech that highlighted the importance of public and private spaces, integration, and hospitality. The “living room” project presented in Sweden stood out for its transformative approach, prioritizing inclusivity over technological advancements. Hilal’s insights challenged architects to consider the diverse needs of individuals from different cultures and origins. The conference emphasized the moral responsibility of creating spaces that foster a sense of belonging and empowerment for marginalized communities. It served as a reminder for architects to strike a balance between technical expertise and an understanding of human diversity, ultimately creating meaningful and inclusive environments.
Sandi Hilal exposes that the practice of architecture is not objective since there is always a different way of approaching all issues within each culture and society, this depends on each person’s perspective. His research is very important because in the end it is like creating a quality common space where everyone can integrate and relate the public with the private. One of his strongest ideas is that the buildings that are being created are not permanent because humanity is changing and “improving” therefore what is built has to be temporary so that it can be adapted, we cannot remain stuck with a single way of making architecture, integration is a fundamental factor that causes changes in life and In order to recognize which of these practices are temporary and which are constant, there must be a deep analysis of society.
The lecture captured the scope of different contexts and different issues, starting from decolonizations of Palestine and the role that an architect can play, to the project of creating space for immigrants in Sweden. The former touched on the topics of communal space and the variety of forms that it can take depending on the very specific needs and contexts (like the enclosed piazza example). The latter was especially interesting because it touched not only on the use of space and it’s architectural transformation, but also on the social roles of users and power dynamics that go with being a host or a guest. The lecture challenges the view of immigrants and refugees position in western society.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture is very interesting, the topic of the lecture is Learning from the Living Room: Architecture, Art, and Social Justice. In addition, the architectural project was vividly displayed in the lecture, which was about the housing of immigrants in Sweden. The project, the design process, and the user’s feelings were introduced in detail, which made me realize the care and strength that public space gives to people. The whole lecture is like telling a story, but it is very attractive. Architectural practice is an interesting and complicated thing. This lecture has inspired me a lot.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was very interesting and exciting. She talked about the decolonizations in Palestine and the role that architects can have. She also explained the issue of public spaces, that are often actually not designed for all the people who frequent them. At last she presented th “Living Room”, a project in Sweden realized to host refugees. The peculiarity is the use of common spaces, where everyone is welcome and everything is shared, people and culture.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was very interesting. Especially her personal knowledge about Palestinian decolonization, and how important the role of an architect is in certain circumstances of urgency. She was a founder of “Dar,” which means house in Arabic, where she transformed her own living room and terrace into a place where the community could gather. Also very interesting is the project of “Living room,” where refugees found a second home, gives them a chance not to feel like guests. A place where different cultures meet and confront each other, sharing their traditions and cultures.
Sandi Hilal has been a source of inspiration.
The idea of hospitality and who constitutes the “guest” and the “host” within a given society, and the social roles they are expected to play, served as a potent framework for interpreting the role of public space in the cities of today, and how this conception can be reworked for societies of ever increasing diversity. I was particularly intrigued by Sandi Hilal’s notion of “spaces with multiple hosts” as opposed to the idea of the state as the acting host in most public spaces in Europe today. I believe expanding our urban spaces to accommodate the expression of multiple identities, in an environment where all are afforded an equal role, empowers communities to open up and be seen. This was very evident in the “living room” project where the traditional relationship between the displaced communities and “host” country was flipped, highlighting how the performance of the host’s role holds considerable power and can be a catalyst for integration and a healthy society. This re-conception of performance in the public realm indeed constitutes a decolonization of public space from a state-centric modern model to a multi-host model more suited for the diverse societies of today.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was touching as she emphasized the importance of private spaces in supporting community well-being, particularly for refugees who struggle with a sense of belonging and hospitality after displacement. Through the Living Room Project, she demonstrated how transforming these spaces can empower communities and restore their sense of agency. Hilal’s thought-provoking questions about integration, the role of domestic spaces, statelessness, and the pressure to conform in public spaces deeply resonated with me as an international student with a diverse circle of friends.
In my opinion the conference given by the guest Sandi Hilal was very important for the issues addressed on the history of decolonization in Palestine and the role of architects, but above all the reflection on the theme of public and private. Moreover, how important is the role of integration and exchange of ideas, traditions and how fundamental a part of the house is, that is the living room that is generally connected to the family environment where the objects of the family are exposed and where you receive guests then the theme of hospitality, from here his reflection on how we should feel in every place we are and in this regard it was very interesting to see the video of Sweden and the hospitality offered by Syrian refugees who opened their stay to receive people and share the traditions and their ideas and how this movement has led to the creation of numerous stays.
I followed Sandi Hilal’s speech carefully. I found it interesting how the possibility of hosting, for people like refugees, is not something taken for granted. Indeed for them, it is a right to claim, necessary to regain their dignity and build the foundations for a new life and a place in society. The “living room” project presented was surprising, since, unlike the other projects which were based on the modification of the building through the use of technologies or new materials, in the case of the Swedish, what was modified was a way of thinking and acting. All this takes place through the construction of a common, shared, and open space, an excellent metaphor for integration into society. Architects often limit themselves to designing following technical directives, neglecting the most important aspect, i.e. that spaces are made to be used by people with different cultures, uses, and origins and that often the technique does not take these aspects into account, with the result of obtaining functional spaces that are not useful to people.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was interesting . Designing for diversity and inclusivity is an important aspect of creating spaces that are functional and meaningful for the people who use them. By prioritizing human-centered design and working closely with the communities they are designing for, architects can create spaces that are Overall, designing for diversity and inclusivity is an important aspect of creating spaces that are functional and meaningful for the people who use them. By prioritizing human-centered design and working closely with the communities they are designing for, architects can create spaces that are not only technically sound, but also culturally and socially relevant.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture which is called “Learning from the Living Room: Architecture, Art, and Social Justice” was an interesting and inspiring presentation to see how refugees create a place in area which is called “Living room project” that volunteers who can cook and share their cultures with all the people in region. Before the “Living room project” building for refugees looked like an empty, small and lonely rooms. There was no activity for people so it was very sad but with creating the project people had a great time together with sharing all their experiences and cultures from different area. Sandi Hilal mentioned some private and public separation in an architecture and she talked about how it can be used public and private using as a common place. It was an exciting thing to see how architecture can be effective in society without design or build a new building but create a thinking.
This week’s lecture was a rather emotional one. Sandi Hilal gave an incredibly important speech regarding the role of private spaces and how they help people thrive in their communities. Especially in the case of refugees, who lose the sense of belonging and even the ability to host people once they cross the border. The Living Room Project, explained by Hilal, managed to shift the entire dynamic of a space and a community and helped them regain their agency through their own private spaces. An important question posed by the lecturer was “Is integration bringing old and new together?” The project deals with the role of the domestic space, statelessness and the feeling of not belonging in the “public” space. Another important argument brought forward was that, public spaces are not neutral and that people are expected to blend in. As an international student with the majority of my social circle being from different backgrounds, this resonated with me a lot.
“We will become a real multicultural world when people will be able to create their own public space.” This is one of the phrases that most struck me from the lecture by Sandi Hilal, an architect and researcher who, with her studio DAAR, constantly addresses and emphasizes the relevant political role played by architecture in the phenomenon of decolonization in Palestine and Europe. An intervention that brings to question the role of domestic spaces as a possibility, for refugees and immigrants, of integration into the society in which they live. The “living room” project is about just that and about the host-guest relationship. Sandi Hilal emphasizes how
the possibility of constructing personal public spaces for themselves becomes an opportunity for refugees to regain the right to be hosts and not feel like guests only. Another phrase that struck me is precisely, “Hospitality last three days, then it becomes charity”.
I found the lecture by Sandi Hilal very interesting for many reasons. First of all, the theme of decolonization, in particular in Palestine, and how architects and architecture can have an important role in it, something I never thought about. Then, the topic of public and private, which made me think of how very often public spaces are often actually not designed for all the people who frequent them, as they are shaped in the more accordant way to the prevalent population. Finally, the project living room was enlightening about the theme of hosting, which is something fundamental to people to have the feeling to have their own place to live, by the chance of have guests and share their own culture, like we have seen in the film about the Syrian refugees in Sweden.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was different than the previous lectures we have seen in the ACC lectures in the way that she started her speech like a story-telling and then integrated the main ideas into her life story and her experiences and work. It was interesting to see the role of architects in the inclusion of refugees in the society. The project of the “Living Room” in Sweden was inspiring for this purpose of inclusion. It was provided by building this common space for everyone to get together and share cultures and traditions. The ideas presented in the story-telling of Sandi Hilal made me reflect on this topic relating it to architecture and the influence of architects.
Sandi Hilal in her lecture introduces the subject of decolonisation of architecture in Palestine as well as in Europe. The architect explored in an interesting way how the house, specially the living room, can become a connection zone between public and private environments. The debate proposes us to reanalyse this polarisation, inviting us to explore the many intermediate categories of space. Hilal explains how modern architecture tends to frame every aspect of life, and suggest us to challenge this typologies of space, considering not only the temporaryness as a real architectural condition, as well as the possibility to create the overlapping of public and private to create the common space.
Sandi Hilal’s conference on decolonization in Palestine and the role of architects was a significant speech that highlighted the importance of public and private spaces, integration, and hospitality. The “living room” project presented in Sweden stood out for its transformative approach, prioritizing inclusivity over technological advancements. Hilal’s insights challenged architects to consider the diverse needs of individuals from different cultures and origins. The conference emphasized the moral responsibility of creating spaces that foster a sense of belonging and empowerment for marginalized communities. It served as a reminder for architects to strike a balance between technical expertise and an understanding of human diversity, ultimately creating meaningful and inclusive environments.
Sandi Hilal exposes that the practice of architecture is not objective since there is always a different way of approaching all issues within each culture and society, this depends on each person’s perspective. His research is very important because in the end it is like creating a quality common space where everyone can integrate and relate the public with the private. One of his strongest ideas is that the buildings that are being created are not permanent because humanity is changing and “improving” therefore what is built has to be temporary so that it can be adapted, we cannot remain stuck with a single way of making architecture, integration is a fundamental factor that causes changes in life and In order to recognize which of these practices are temporary and which are constant, there must be a deep analysis of society.
The lecture captured the scope of different contexts and different issues, starting from decolonizations of Palestine and the role that an architect can play, to the project of creating space for immigrants in Sweden. The former touched on the topics of communal space and the variety of forms that it can take depending on the very specific needs and contexts (like the enclosed piazza example). The latter was especially interesting because it touched not only on the use of space and it’s architectural transformation, but also on the social roles of users and power dynamics that go with being a host or a guest. The lecture challenges the view of immigrants and refugees position in western society.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture is very interesting, the topic of the lecture is Learning from the Living Room: Architecture, Art, and Social Justice. In addition, the architectural project was vividly displayed in the lecture, which was about the housing of immigrants in Sweden. The project, the design process, and the user’s feelings were introduced in detail, which made me realize the care and strength that public space gives to people. The whole lecture is like telling a story, but it is very attractive. Architectural practice is an interesting and complicated thing. This lecture has inspired me a lot.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was very interesting and exciting. She talked about the decolonizations in Palestine and the role that architects can have. She also explained the issue of public spaces, that are often actually not designed for all the people who frequent them. At last she presented th “Living Room”, a project in Sweden realized to host refugees. The peculiarity is the use of common spaces, where everyone is welcome and everything is shared, people and culture.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was very interesting. Especially her personal knowledge about Palestinian decolonization, and how important the role of an architect is in certain circumstances of urgency. She was a founder of “Dar,” which means house in Arabic, where she transformed her own living room and terrace into a place where the community could gather. Also very interesting is the project of “Living room,” where refugees found a second home, gives them a chance not to feel like guests. A place where different cultures meet and confront each other, sharing their traditions and cultures.
Sandi Hilal has been a source of inspiration.
The idea of hospitality and who constitutes the “guest” and the “host” within a given society, and the social roles they are expected to play, served as a potent framework for interpreting the role of public space in the cities of today, and how this conception can be reworked for societies of ever increasing diversity. I was particularly intrigued by Sandi Hilal’s notion of “spaces with multiple hosts” as opposed to the idea of the state as the acting host in most public spaces in Europe today. I believe expanding our urban spaces to accommodate the expression of multiple identities, in an environment where all are afforded an equal role, empowers communities to open up and be seen. This was very evident in the “living room” project where the traditional relationship between the displaced communities and “host” country was flipped, highlighting how the performance of the host’s role holds considerable power and can be a catalyst for integration and a healthy society. This re-conception of performance in the public realm indeed constitutes a decolonization of public space from a state-centric modern model to a multi-host model more suited for the diverse societies of today.
Sandi Hilal’s lecture was touching as she emphasized the importance of private spaces in supporting community well-being, particularly for refugees who struggle with a sense of belonging and hospitality after displacement. Through the Living Room Project, she demonstrated how transforming these spaces can empower communities and restore their sense of agency. Hilal’s thought-provoking questions about integration, the role of domestic spaces, statelessness, and the pressure to conform in public spaces deeply resonated with me as an international student with a diverse circle of friends.