About | Architectural Recovery Team

About us

Empowering earthquake-affected communities through collaborative innovation aiming to provide safe and sustainable homes.

The foundation Architectural Recovery Team (ART) was founded at the Delft University of Technology and started as a voluntary student initiative, focussing on the architectural recovery of impacted areas after earthquake disasters.

The Architectural Recovery Team is diverse, working with professors, architects, civil engineers and students and professionals from different disciplines. Here the the Architectural Recovery Team aims to connect knowledge from different universities, and institutions, to together achieve its goals.

Although the foundation focusses on the recovery of Turkiye, the Architectural Recovery Team also helps other teams get started after natural disasters across the world. These teams work on various projects and approaches, respecting political and cultural aspects.

Our Mission

Everyone has a fundamental human right to housing, which ensures access to a safe, secure, habitable, and affordable home – UN Habitat

In the last couple of months, our team has grown to be a team of professionals. Our mission is to support reconstruction and come up with preventive measures in areas affected by disaster.

Through collaboration with experts from different fields, we aim to co-create sustainable and affordable modular designs that prioritize local materials and cultural considerations, while bringing new technologies and ideas to the regions. Our innovative and collaborative approach, ensures our plans are realistic and practical. Our first mission is to analyze and initiate a design, build a network, and work towards a prototype.

After testing the prototypes and contacting institutes that could help us realize the design, we started the building process. Our approach is from an architectural engineering perspective, considering each crisis site’s unique geographical, political, cultural, and social aspects. Our ultimate goal is to provide solutions for long-term buildings that can withstand extreme situations, significantly impacting the lives of those affected by natural disasters.

How we started

“As architecture students, we had to do something to help people have a home again” – Meriç Kessaf

After witnessing the devastating effects of natural disasters, the founders of the Architectural Recovery Team, Meric Kessaf, Leyla van der Waarde and Meriam Sehimi, were inspired to take action. Their shared passion for humanitarian architecture led them to create an initiative dedicated to finding urgent solutions for long-term humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of natural disasters.

The Architectural Recovery Team’s first mission was to organize a workshop week to kick off the initiative, where students, experts, and professors worked together to develop possible solutions.

After this workshop week, the team wanted to continue, to make a real impact and give aid to people in need.

Over the last few months, the group has grown to many volunteers, including architectural engineers, earth scientists, psychologists, civil engineers, and more experts. ART takes a collaborative approach, leveraging the knowledge and expertise of its members across different fields.