Blog 04

As mentioned in our last post, both ARCH+ features 39 and the second ARCH+ displays event have been held in the last two weeks.

On 11 June, ARCH+ features presented the “Wohnungsfrage” (“Housing question”) project at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (“House of the Cultures of the World”), with the aim of stimulating cross-discipline debate on the social significance of residential construction. The project is accompanied by a series of publications, the first two of which were presented at the event: “Das wachsende Haus” (“The Growing House”) by Martin Wagner and “Co-op Interieur” by Hannes Meyer. Alongside the presentation of the two publications, the architect Wilfried Kuehn from the firm Kuehn Malvezzi gave a brilliant speech discussing Friedrich Engels’ essays on “the housing question”, which gave the project its name. Given the growing need for housing in the cities, his 1872 analysis of the issue of housing in a capitalist system is more relevant now than ever. However, it also shows that this problem cannot be solved in a prevailing capitalist system.

A week later on 18 June, the ARCH+ Studio at the Kunst-Werke Institute in Berlin was turned into an exhibition room for the second time. After several days spent setting up the space, the opening evening included a brief introduction of the attendees from WAI Architecture Think Tank, Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski, who were then available to speak to the many visitors for the rest of the evening. The exhibition provides an in-depth insight into the work of the two artists, architects, and theorists. In addition to large-scale collages, paintings, and films, they are also presenting the associated models and their collected works in the form of catalogues, magazines, and books. The exhibition is open on weekdays between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. until the end of July.

In addition to these two events, we were also able to follow the latest issue of ARCH+ as it went to press after a year of research and editing. The issue includes the first publication of the architecture lectures by Klaus Heinrich, who was professor of religious studies at the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin). The religious philosopher’s lectures were legendary, touching on a multitude of topics ranging from law and psychoanalysis to literature, art, and architecture. The lectures published in ARCH+ discuss the subject of classicism from Karl Friedrich Schinkel to Albert Speer.

Meanwhile, the planned publication of our work on the architecture of Flanders is taking shape too. After a period of thorough research and textual analysis of the projects, we are now looking at how the offices work and how they see themselves.

We will be able to experience this discourse live in the two upcoming features with two of the leading Belgian firms. OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen will be presenting and discussing their work at the Kunst-Werke Institute on 16 July, followed by De Vylder Vinck Taillieu Architecten on 13 August.