Open Sanctuary 2027.

In 2017, a law from the upper council for the affairs of the disabled was approved to call for a higher integration of the disabled in society, through more employability and promoting independent living in Jordan. The law stipulates that all residential centers for the intellectually disabled must be closed down by 2027. This would leave up to 2200 beneficiaries displaced from all closed residential centers in Jordan. The guidelines to the bill state that these beneficiaries must move to live with their families, if not, a substitute family/ fostering, and if not, live in medical centers under supervision of the government. Although the bill follows progressive intentions for integration, it does not grasp the severity and complexity of the potential consequences for the intellectually disabled, by decentralizing the beneficiaries and their facilities, as the bill does not even mention the types and nuances of disability.

 The law can be read in this link: Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities No. 20 for the Year 2017 | Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hcd.gov.jo)

​The project aims to solve and mitigate such real life high stake consequences through design, urban planning and architecture. The project thus proposes a 5 minute integrated neighborhood for the intellectually disabled, where closed residential centers join to become a public shareholding company that rents apartments from this neighborhood to place a maximum of 6 beneficiaries per apartment, as per guidelines of the law. The urban neighborhood hosts a variety of mixed housing typologies, with several commercial and public spaces, to encourage interaction with other residents of the project. This urban neighborhood will furthermore be in direct proximity to a new high performance day center for the intellectually disabled, so that these decentralized apartment units are close to the needed rehabilitative and special educational facilities, creating a resilient neighborhood, where beneficiaries can live, work, play and learn... and most importantly, integrate in society at an urban scale in Amman. 

BSc. Architecture Graduation Project and Thesis - 2023, Amman, Jordan

To The Thesis.