MVRDV Designs Solar-Powered "Sports Club in a Shipping Container" For Refugees
The KLABU Clubhouse, pictured at M’bera refugee shelter in Mauritani, aims to support refugees with the healing power of group sports and social connection.
Global architecture firm MVRDV has unveiled a modular, multi-functional clubhouse for Amsterdam-based social enterprise KLABU (“club” in Swahili), which engages refugees in rebuilding hope and joy through the power of sports.
The design starts with the humble shipping container as its foundation, painted in exuberant orange and sky blue and laser-cut with a large KLABU logo for bold recognisability. The “open side” modification and its adjustable doors provide a large public-facing window, a shaded canopy, and the placement of a large television screen. Behind the courter an array of sporting equipment and sportswear is housed, which can be shipped all together within a single container to facilitate easy installation.
Powered by renewable solar energy on its roof, the structure also incorporates multiple electric charging points and wireless internet capacity to support additional non-sports activities like cultural events and educational initiatives. The metal frame provided by the shipping container is also an ideal structure for withstanding varying climates at camps around the world.
Today the UN reports that 1 in 69 people (1.5% of the world’s population) are currently forcibly displaced, double the 1 in 125 people displaced a decade ago. The KLABU Clubhouse is a prime example of the adaptive human-centered designs needed to address growing displacement from international conflicts and climate disasters. MRDV’s work for KLABU has the potential to serve as an uplifting focal point in refugee camps for displaced people to access sporting activities, and more importantly, social connectedness in the face of hardship.
KLABU‘s initiatives can be supported through its colorful sportswear collection including patterned jerseys and sweatshirts.
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