German contribution to the 15th Architecture Biennale 2016 in Venice
At this year's 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, the German pavilion will feature proposals submitted by architects and city designers for the housing and integration of refugees. Peter Cachola Schmal, the director of the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt (DAM) and commissioner for the German pavilion met with Gunther Adler, State Secretary at the Federal Building Ministry, in Munich today to present first details of the exhibition design of "Making Heimat. Germany, Arrival Country".
Gunther Adler explained: "The exhibition 'Making Heimat' in the German pavilion is a major contribution to the current discussion on how to meet the enormous challenge of quickly providing affordable housing and integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees into our society. The exhibition will showcase the contribution architecture and urban design can make in this regard. Some of the examples may come across as provocative and trigger controversial discussions, but it will still be important to make them part of the debate on successful integration."
Based on the ideas the Canadian journalist Doug Saunders presented in his book "Arrival City", the "Making Heimat" exhibition puts conditions for integration up for discussion by using examples from Germany. The Federal Building Ministry commissioned the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt (DAM) with realising the German contribution at the architecture exhibition.
As a first part of the exhibition, the Frankfurt architecture museum launched a data bank today, putting specific projects for the housing of refugees and migrants online: www.makingheimat.de . The DAM data bank was set up on the basis of a call for projects which started in October 2015 and it covers projects ranging from temporary, light-weight constructions with interior designs by architects to projects displaying durable low-cost housing units. The website will stay online after the architecture exhibition as a reference for local and regional decision makers.