The Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment is sponsoring the international Berlin Award 2016 – Heimat in der Fremde. This Award recognizes innovative projects that respond to the refugee housing crisis. The main goal of the Berlin Award 2016 – Heimat in der Fremde is to contribute to improving the quality of life of refugees through innovative projects.

Project Description

Sixty (60) million people over the world have fled their homes. The dimensions of the refugee movement are becoming a major challenge for big cities. In particular, these displaced persons must be accommodated and provided for, given work and integrated into society in large numbers and in a short time. For this reason, it is necessary to quickly create adequate living space. Also, it is necessary to create interfaces between their living spaces and the urban realm, to facilitate participation in urban life from the outset.

The project proposes a rule-based production system to design and manufacture housing units customized to user needs. The units can be manufactured with rapid prototyping technology leading to an automated method of refugee housing delivery.

The production system is parametric. It involves adjustable rules for spatial organization and building component design. The prospective tenant controls the parameters according to building regulations in a certain context (municipal, national). The rules include parameters for positioning each unit inside a neighborhood boundary. They also include parameters for resolving plans, i.e., space partitioning, function assignment, wall openings, etc. The rules have similarities with Jose Duarte’s shape grammar for the Malagueira houses designed by the architect Álvaro Siza.

Project Information

Title: Berlin Award 2016: Heimat in der Fremde
Collaborators: Horotechniki A.E.
Organization: Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment

Press and Exhibition

Exhibited at the German Pavilion of the 15th Venice Biennale of Architecture (May, 2016).