Graduate collective Soup International has designed eight community kitchens that would allow refugees and asylum seekers to enjoy "the normalcy of domestic activities".
The kitchens were designed for the Migrant Living/Nomadic Domesticities project by Soup International ? a group of eight graduates that met whilst studying the MA Interior Design course at the University of East London.
Led by course tutor Claudia Palma Romao, the eight graduates developed portable and multifunctional kitchen designs that would benefit the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers (SDCAS).
The non-profit organisation has three day centres which provide a range of services that support asylum seekers and refugees in the London borough of Southwark, including weekly communal lunches. Cellule Kitchen by Aysha Farhana would have cooking units curved like church apses
After a fire destroyed the kitchen of SDCAS' centre in ?St Mary Newington church, the organisation was in need of cooking facilities that could easily be set up within the main body of the church and, if necessary, packed up and transported for use in the other day centres when they're hosting large-scale workshops or talks.
"Asylum seekers are often devoid of the normalcy of domestic activities and shared experiences, such as access to basic kitchens and cooking time," said Soup International member, Aysha Farhana.
"In order to engender a sense of neutralisation in the process of belonging, in a new place, i...