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News February 5, 2026
Students Design Scarves for Save the Children
At the Yale School of Architecture, community engagement is a cornerstone of architectural education. Courses regularly tackle design challenges posed by society’s thorniest issues, including housing insecurity, childcare, incarceration, and climate change.
In the Fall of 2023, Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor of Architectural Design Marina Tabassum, alongside senior critic Gavin Hogben, led “Architecture of Transition,” an advanced studio course focused on the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Students were tasked with designing disaster shelters capable of withstanding 200-mile-per-hour winds and 20-foot storm surges that could offer alternative programming when not in use during emergencies. The studio traveled to Bangladesh to further research the typography and communities they would soon design for, including meeting with Rohingya refugees in Ukhiya who remain vulnerable to extreme weather.
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Drawing by Nabil Haque (M.Arch ‘24) and Reem Nassour (M.Arch ‘24), featured on the scarves.
Drawing by Nabil Haque (M.Arch ‘24) and Reem Nassour (M.Arch ‘24)
‘The Lost Generation’ Model
For Nabil Haque (M.Arch ‘24) and Reem Nassour (M.Arch ‘24), the studio offered an exciting challenge. The pair’s project, ‘The Lost Generation’ Trauma and Rehabilitation Cyclone Shelter, is a proposed modular, multipurpose structure that serves as both an area of refuge during natural disasters, as well as a learning center for adolescent boys who may otherwise have been susceptible to gang recruitment. Alongside traditional education, pupils would learn to replicate the design principles of the shelter itself, providing the individuals with valuable skills and the community with additional areas of refuge. The two later earned the 2024 H.I. Feldman Prize for the project, which is awarded each year to the student or students who demonstrates the best solution to an architectural problem in an advanced studio. For their final presentations, Haque and Nassour presented a series of beautiful and poignant drawings that captured the skills and artistry of the Rohingya refugees. The idea soon arose to create scarves that featured the artwork and advanced the spirit of the project—aiding vulnerable populations susceptible to natural disasters.
The Yale School of Architecture is proud to be partnering with Save the Children, a Connecticut-based relief agency focused on improving long-term education outcomes and providing immediate disaster aid in over 100 countries across the globe. In recognition of donations of $100+ to Save the Children, YSoA will gift a scarf featuring Haque and Nassour’s artwork to the donor. To date, over $3500 has been raised.
If you are interested in donating, visit http://support.savethechildren.org/goto/YSoAscarf
For more information, email architecture.development@yale.edu