In Zaatari camp Jordan thousands of Syrian refugees were sheltered in tents and caravans
which they steadily appropriated and turned into dwellings that responded to their social and
cultural needs. In this book Ayham Dalal takes a closer look at this remarkable
transformation. He draws on the tension between 'the shelter' and 'the dwelling' to unravel how
new spaces unfold in between them where refugees become architects and the camp is dismantled
and reassembled. From Shelters to Dwellings is the first study to uniquely combine ethnographic
observations with new architectural research methods to illustrate in detail how refugees
inhabit shelters. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how camps and
shelters are transformed by the powerful act of dwelling.
