First Virtual Reality Museum for Migrant Women: creating engagement and innovative participatory design approaches through Virtual Reality Spaces.
“Imagine a place filled with important stories that are hard to tell. A place that embodies the collective experience of immigrant women during their temporary stay”. In this project the first museum around immigrant women in Virtual Reality is created and tested. Working with the only migration centre for women in Monterrey, Lamentos Escuchados, project members (professional developers, lecturers, and interior design, animation, media and humanity students) collaborate with immigrant women and the centre officials to understand the migrant women stories, their notion of space/home and the way they inhabit the centre. This VR museum helps to connect immigrant women with the community while exploring more flexible ways to educate architects and interior designers about alternative ways of doing architecture through participatory design approaches.
Partners:
University of Monterey (UDEM)
Lamentos Escuchados
The growth of migrants and refugees puts pressure on the building of temporary settlements. Most are designed based on functional aspects, especially during Covid crisis. Emotional well-being connected to the notion of home is missing, impeding an inclusive community. Being There is a VR-experience of migration spaces developed through participatory-design approaches centred around needs connected to home. Thematic analysis based on 28 interviews with Latin-American migrant/refugee women and volunteers, revealed the meaning of home, based on: culture, temporary transition, togetherness, and journey. The insights were used to create the VR animations (of the journey), the ideal temporary space, the interactions (with migrant voice-overs) and Volumetric-Captured character scenarios. It revealed the importance and possibilities to translate notions of home into VR-experiences to raise empathy and awareness for the importance of designing settlements regarding sense of home and shows how VR helps architects to understand, design and communicate temporary spaces.
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