Home Made

Vienna, Austria

Photo © Paul Kranzler

Architects: Caramel Architekten

Location: Pfeiffergasse, Vienna, Austria
Year: 2016
Client: Caritas
Objekt: Leeres Bürogebäude aus den 90er Jahren, Wien 1150
Fläche: 3700 m²
Nutzung zu Projektbeginn: Notquartier für 280 Asylwerber_innen, v.a. Familien
Zahlenstärkste Herkunftsländer: Syrien, Afghanistan, Iran
Projektzeitraum: Nov15- Jan16

For the Architecture Biennale in Venice, Caramel’s task was to design the ‘refugee camp’, using a vacant office building in Vienna.
Safeguarding privacy, as in marking a place where someone can rest undisturbed
by external influences was, for Caramel, the first and most important subject of their “intervention”. Rather than posing a limitation, the time limit became a constructive part of their thought process. Starting with a minimal design repertoire, Caramel first developed elements for dividing up the space and then creating some privacy in the former open-plan offices. This simple formal language was extended to the design of the communal areas. A central criterion of Caramel architects’ design is that all elements can be rapidly dismounted and easily reassembled in a different location.