HIC ET NUNC I.
Interdisciplinary Workshop on Spatial Activation in an Asylum Seekers Camp, Zurich.

HIC ET NUNC (Here and Now) defines a design attitude centered on concrete, time-bound action. Under this motto, design students were invited to intervene within a strict four-week timeframe, responding to an emergency situation through direct spatial engagement rather than speculative proposals.

HIC ET NUNC I is the first workshop of a series developed in collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and AOZ Zurich (Asylum Organisation Zurich). The workshop took place in 2016 in response to the first large-scale refugee emergency in the city of Zurich.

At the time, the city hosted approximately 250 asylum seekers in a temporary camp set up inside a fair hall. Prefabricated wooden units ensured basic privacy, yet the spatial and social conditions of everyday life remained largely unaddressed. Within this context, the workshop focused on identifying small, concrete actions capable of improving spatial quality and supporting processes of integration during temporary accommodation.

Students were asked to observe the camp, identify a specific challenge they could realistically address, and develop a proposal that could be implemented within the given timeframe. Each intervention was conceived, developed, and realized as a full-scale action, contributing directly to the lived environment of the camp and functioning as a case study for future iterations of the program.

Expose - The workshop exposed the often-invisible spatial conditions of emergency accommodation by bringing attention to everyday practices, constraints, and overlooked opportunities within the camp.
Through direct observation and engagement, students made visible the gaps between infrastructural provision and lived experience.

Mediate - HIC ET NUNC I mediated between institutional frameworks, local authorities, students, and camp residents by translating abstract notions of care, integration, and hospitality into situated spatial actions. Design operated as a mediating practice capable of aligning social needs, spatial constraints, and material possibilities.

Activate - The workshop activated students as spatial agents by requiring them to act decisively within real constraints and in direct relation to a vulnerable context. Rather than producing representations or hypothetical scenarios, the projects activated immediate spatial transformations that improved everyday conditions and informed future interventions.

HIC ET NUNC I does not propose design as a tool for solving crises, but as a situated practice capable of operating here and now. By focusing on small-scale, realizable actions, the workshop frames design as an epistemic device for engaging with emergency conditions through responsibility, proximity, and action.