Switzerland to build container settlement for Ukrainian refugees, despite criticism

The Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported the news.

About 1,000 people are expected to live in this camp.

Ueli Salzmann, an expert on the construction of such structures, says the project involves improper room planning and too little living space per person. He claims that with a full occupancy, a family of four will have 15 square meters of living space.

"In our training courses, we use this type of settlement architecture as an example of how not to do it," he said.

Over the past 30 years, Salzmann has planned numerous emergency shelters for the UN and the Red Cross. He says, "You can't live in such a small space." He continues to criticize the lack of semi-private hallways in front of individual containers. "It will be chaos." If the refugees had only been here for a month, he would have thought that was normal. But no one knows exactly how much they will actually have to live in these conditions. "This is not life," Salzmann continued.

Project manager Stefan Bähler rejects criticism.

"Because of the space available, we can't just place housing units freely," says Bähler.

According to him, bicycles and other personal belongings can be stored in separate containers. In an emergency, the authors of the project responded quickly and planned.

"If a woman with two children goes into the container, the extra bed will definitely not be occupied," he added.

How many people will actually live in the container village is still unknown. Bern currently has a reserve of more than 600 beds.