Architecture of Survival in Gaza
This essay explores scholasticide in Gaza through an architectural lens. It examines how schools have shifted from spaces of learning into multifunctional structures of survival. It questions how architects in Palestine might reimagine spaces of education that sustain childhood, learning, and resilience under an uncertain future of instability and violence.
This essay explores scholasticide in Gaza as both a political and architectural condition, arguing that the systematic destruction of educational infrastructure has transformed schools from places of learning into multifunctional spaces of survival. Rather than viewing schools only as buildings that have been damaged or destroyed, the essay frames them as spaces that now operate simultaneously as shelters, clinics, and sites of refuge—spaces where education must exist alongside displacement and violence.
The essay further examines how learning in Gaza continues despite the collapse of formal schooling. Through case studies such as Schools Without Borders and UNRWA schools repurposed as shelters, it shows how education has shifted into temporary, mobile, and improvised spaces. Learning now takes place in tents, shared rooms, and online platforms, revealing how traditional school typologies—designed for stability and single use—are no longer sufficient in the context of Gaza.
Building on these current realities, the essay proposes a speculative architectural position: that future schools in Gaza must be designed for instability as a permanent condition. Rather than offering idealised solutions, it outlines adaptive, distributed, and protective school models that respond to ongoing destruction and displacement. These speculative approaches imagine schools that can transform, decentralise, and protect learning even under threat.
The essay is presented in the form of a children’s picture book. Freehand drawings and simplified visual language are used to reflect the disruption of childhood and education caused by scholasticide. This format resists rigid academic conventions and makes the subject more accessible, whilst also acting as a critical tool that questions how architecture can support learning and childhood in spaces shaped by survival rather than permanence.
This essay explores scholasticide in Gaza as both a political and architectural condition, arguing that the systematic destruction of educational infrastructure has transformed schools from places of learning into multifunctional spaces of survival. Rather than viewing schools only as buildings that have been damaged or destroyed, the essay frames them as spaces that now operate simultaneously as shelters, clinics, and sites of refuge—spaces where education must exist alongside displacement and violence.
The essay further examines how learning in Gaza continues despite the collapse of formal schooling. Through case studies such as Schools Without Borders and UNRWA schools repurposed as shelters, it shows how education has shifted into temporary, mobile, and improvised spaces. Learning now takes place in tents, shared rooms, and online platforms, revealing how traditional school typologies—designed for stability and single use—are no longer sufficient in the context of Gaza.
Building on these current realities, the essay proposes a speculative architectural position: that future schools in Gaza must be designed for instability as a permanent condition. Rather than offering idealised solutions, it outlines adaptive, distributed, and protective school models that respond to ongoing destruction and displacement. These speculative approaches imagine schools that can transform, decentralise, and protect learning even under threat.
The essay is presented in the form of a children’s picture book. Freehand drawings and simplified visual language are used to reflect the disruption of childhood and education caused by scholasticide. This format resists rigid academic conventions and makes the subject more accessible, whilst also acting as a critical tool that questions how architecture can support learning and childhood in spaces shaped by survival rather than permanence.