RE/CREATION: Hexagonal Modules That Give Refugee Children Space to Play and Learn

What happens when you refuse to separate play from learning, or recreation from daily life? You get a hexagon. More precisely, you get a network of hexagons that can cluster, spread, enclose courtyards, or form paths, each one hosting a different childhood experience: sliding, climbing, planting, performing, resting. RE/CREATION starts from the premise that children in refugee camps deserve more than leftover space between tents. They deserve architecture that treats play as a spatial right.

Designed by Lorena Gebran, RE/CREATION was a shortlisted entry in Re-imagining Play 2020, a competition that challenged designers to rethink how architecture can support play in difficult contexts. Rather than proposing a conventional playground with fixed equipment, Gebran developed an adaptable modular system built around hexagonal geometry. The modules accommodate recreation, education, nature, and social interaction, and they can be rearranged to fit varying site conditions, programmatic needs, and the changing realities of temporary settlements.

Six Sides, Six Possible Connections

The hexagon is doing real work here. Unlike a rectangular room, which tends to establish predictable entry and circulation, a hexagonal module offers six sides that can serve as entrances, exits, edges for activity, or connection points to neighboring units. The plan and section drawings above catalog a rich vocabulary of playful interventions packed into this repeatable geometry: hexagonal slides that combine vertical and horizontal movement, climbing cords that create permeable surfaces for navigation, three-entry tunnels, and trampolines. Alongside these active modules sit quieter counterparts: planting beds, exhibition yards, seating clusters, and hammock zones.

What keeps the system coherent is its logic of consistency without uniformity. Every module shares the same hexagonal footprint and structural grammar, giving the project a recognizable architectural identity. But each one houses a different programme, which means a cluster of five or six modules reads not as repetition but as a small neighborhood of varied experiences. Children encounter the system as an environment they can decode, navigate, and ultimately reshape on their own terms.

Courtyards and Clusters Within the Camp

Gebran's axonometric drawings show how these hexagonal pavilions aggregate at a larger scale. Modules cluster around a central courtyard within an urban block, forming collective gathering space while maintaining clear connections between individual units. The courtyard becomes the social heart of the arrangement, a place where informal play, community events, and everyday encounters overlap.

The detail axonometric reveals another layer of spatial complexity: floor levels vary across modules, with recessed and raised surfaces creating topographic differentiation within the otherwise flat camp terrain. These level changes are subtle but significant. They give children physical cues about transition between activities, create opportunities for climbing and jumping without dedicated equipment, and establish a sense of spatial richness that temporary settlements rarely afford. The ground itself becomes a play surface.

Timber Frames, Rope Swings, and Filtered Light

At the close-up scale, the materiality of RE/CREATION comes into focus. Timber framing defines the structural skeleton of each pavilion, with a central skylit unit introducing natural light into the interior. The construction logic is deliberately legible: children can see how the building works, which reinforces the project's educational ambitions. Vertical slat walls filter light and air while enclosing space loosely enough that the boundary between inside and outside stays permeable.

Inside one pavilion, suspended rope swings hang from the timber structure. The image captures something essential about the project's philosophy: play equipment is not bolted onto a neutral container but woven into the architecture itself. The swing is the room, the room is the swing. By using easily accessible materials like timber and rope, Gebran keeps the system buildable in resource-constrained environments while ensuring that every structural decision contributes to the experiential quality of the space.

Why This Project Matters

RE/CREATION stands out not because of formal novelty but because of its clear-eyed understanding of what architecture can do for children who have lost access to the most basic spatial freedoms. Displacement strips away dedicated spaces for recreation, education, creativity, and spontaneous social life. Gebran's response treats play as a legitimate architectural programme deserving the same rigor and inventiveness typically reserved for cultural institutions or housing. The modular system does not prescribe how children should play; it gives them a framework generous enough to support climbing, gardening, performing, resting, and activities no adult has thought of yet.

The hexagonal geometry is more than a formal choice. It is a structural strategy for adaptability, allowing the system to respond to different sites, different camp configurations, and different communities without losing its identity. In contexts where permanence is uncertain and needs shift rapidly, that kind of flexibility matters enormously. RE/CREATION demonstrates that humanitarian architecture does not have to settle for the minimum. With clear thinking and a strong spatial logic, it can offer children an environment worth inhabiting.

View the Full Project

About the Designers

Designer: Lorena Gebran

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Project credits: RE/CREATION by Lorena Gebran Re-imagining Play 2020 (uni.xyz).