Rising rents and the constantly growing struggle for living space show that the housing market in Europe, with its stereotypical floor plan typologies, is no longer able to react flexibly to changing requirements and the worsening social situation. Instead of bringing about affordable living space by means of ever smaller living areas, guest editors Andreas Lichtblau and Sigrid Verhovsek propose an additional offer of space which is shared. The authors of GAM.16 use a variety of analyses, case studies and designs to demonstrate the potential of housing concepts that make meaningful collective use of spatial and economic resources at local and international levels.
With this issue, GAM is putting the topic of communal living back on the architecture agenda – with the aim of ensuring affordable living space even in precarious living situations. The magazine thus lives up to its aspiration of being a topical discussion forum for design, criticism and architectural science, offering a continuing perspective on contemporary issues.
From “housing as a commodity" to the "rehearsal stages" of living together
In the first topic group, under the heading "Realities", GAM.16 begins its current issue with a theoretical examination of housing as a commodity. Using concrete examples from the past and present, the articles examine the conscious political control and grasping of what appears "private" to us. The second topic group, "Ungewohnt" (uncommon), presents historical as well as contemporary examples of housing that move beyond convention, such as the pop-up settlements of the Filipino community in today's financial centre of Hong Kong or US rural communities of the 1960s. "Common", the third and final part of GAM.16, suggests possible forms of housing that respond to current social and family constellations and thus enable new spatial synergies.
GAM.16 is published with contributions from
Massimo Bricocoli, Gregory Cowan, Heike Delitz, Alexander Hagner, Rebekka Hirschberg, Marson Korbi, Gesa Königstein, Andreas Lichtblau, Christina Linortner, Karla Mäder, Manfred Omahna, Jakob Öhlinger, Gennaro Postiglione, Nikolai Roskamm, Jomo Ruderer, Stefania Sabatinelli, Philipp Markus Schörkhuber, Fritz Strempel, Günther Uhlig, Sigrid Verhovsek
More detailed information can be found on the website of TU Graz’s Faculty of Architecture
