The Netherlands experienced a large influx of refugees over the past years, which peaked in 2015. Many of these refugees have recently had their temporary residency extended into a permanent residency. In spite of this, there is a disproportionately high percentage of unemployment among refugees and many experience a lack of social and academic integration. As a result, a large percentage of refugees are still dependent on governmental financial aid, and the socioeconomic status of refugees is more likely to be lower than the average socioeconomic status in the Netherlands.
Although refugee integration is a widely studied sociological topic, no effort has been made to apply the findings of such studies to the context of architecture. The goal of the present study was to consider research findings on factors and domains that facilitate sociocultural integration, and apply these to the architectural domain. More specifically, the study focused on the development of functional program and building characteristics intended to facilitate integration and produce a suitable living environment.
The results of the present study showed that asylum status holders need to have certain places in the building, such as common rooms in which they share work and study with the rest of the building's residents, who are of different nationalities and are also local residents. In this case, they integrate into society faster and also the problem of friction that may appear among the residents of the building disappears because they spend some time together and give them some awareness and educational lectures that make them accept each other and get closer to each other more.