CITÉ DE REFUGE

Feasability Study for Refugee Housing in Berlin

Cité de Refuge is a study for the design of a neighborhood in the periphery of Berlin aiming at the establishment of transcultural building practice. Based on a modular system of structural elements the neighborhood os organized around squares holding diverse collective functions—social gathering, leisure, education and urban agriculture are forming the chore activities under which everyday life unfolds.
The structure serves for various programs and can be completed through an assemblage of infill materials. Ranging from prefab components to self-built walls and furnitures the secondary structures refer to architectural elements in order to establish a transcultural dialogue. While the infill elements are built on a temporary basis, permanent chores are integrated in the layout for further housing extension. The two to three story temporary buildings are arranged according to specific open space activities and act as a plinth that provides spaces for collectivity and income generating programs such as workshops, educational facilities and commerce.
After ten years housing units for temporary refugees can be adapted to other uses according to the nature of future developments of the area. Cité de Refuge creates a volatile urban conditions as foundation for transtopias—transcultural neighborhoods acting as parallel worlds of mediation.