Architectural Recovery Team – Rebuilding Hope in Hatay

After the devastating earthquakes in February 2023 in southern Türkiye, the Architectural Recovery Team (ART) has been dedicated to sustainable reconstruction. What began as a student initiative at TU Delft has grown into an interdisciplinary team of seven women with backgrounds in architecture, urban planning, and building engineering.

With support from the Corendon Foundation (€40,000), the team built a prototype family home in a village near Antakya. The house consists of a Core Unit, an earthquake-resistant wooden core containing the bathroom, kitchen, and technical facilities and Room Units that are added locally. The first home was donated to a family of seven who lost everything in the earthquake.

ART’s approach is unique: it combines safety, sustainability, and local involvement. By collaborating closely with residents and local contractors, the team creates homes that reflect the culture, needs, and future of the community.

“We are proud that our idea became reality,” says the team. “What started as a concept has now become a real house, giving a family a new beginning.”

In the future, ART aims to further develop the design, establish local production of wooden modules in Türkiye, and share the lessons learned with other disaster-affected regions.

Read the full interview with the Architectural Recovery Team (Link to full version).