Rania Qawasma Thesis Proposal

SEATTLE— Palestinian American architect Rania Qawasma was planning her thesis proposal halfway through her distance learning master’s program in sustainable design at Boston Architectural College (BAC) when she realized she needed to omit her original idea after spending a day with and listening to the concerns of resettled Syrian refugees in Seattle.

Qawasma had initially thought of designing a housing complex that would accommodate refugee families, but realized that the simple details that everyday Americans disregard are essentially some of the biggest challenges these refugees face coming in.

“I know the housing development idea is a good one and it’s still in my mind,” she said. “But I needed to do something right away to ease their transition here.”

Refugees come in not knowing that the

One mother told her that she’d dumped water on the kitchen and bathroom floors to clean, not knowing that there were no drains. Another woman said the smoke detector went off while she was cooking— scaring the whole family. She didn’t have the exhaust hood on.

Another family broke its garbage disposal, an appliance they’d never seen or used before.

After deep contemplation, Qawasma decided to go with what her gut was telling her and began drafting a “neighborhood guide.”

“It’s a way for them to learn about things around their neighborhood easily in graphics, in the least amount of words,” she said.

At first, Qawasma was worried that her thesis would be viewed as unfitting in the architecture field— one that’s usually connected to structure rather than the activity within it.

“But, my theory, which was supported by many professors in the department, was that architecture has the physical side to it and the other side— the operation,” she said. “When you design a building, you need an operation manual that teaches people how to use the [structure] you’ve