We cordially invite you and your friends to the presentation of the new book »Open Architecture: Migration, Citizenship, and the Urban Renewal of Berlin-Kreuzberg by IBA-1984/87« by Esra Akcan published at Birkhäuser.

Lecture
Esra Akcan Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Department of Architecture, Cornell University Director,
Cornell Institute for European Studies

Conversation with
Esra Akcan Author
Uli Hellweg Werkbund Berlin
Kader Konuk Professor and Chair of Turkish Studies, Universität Duisburg-Essen
Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani Architect and Architectural Historian
Cihan Arin Architect

Moderated by
Jan Krause Professor for Architecture education, FH Bochum

The International Building Exhibition 1984/87 in Berlin constitutes one of the most remarkable examples to discuss »open architecture«. Almost 10,000 dwellings were constructed or restored in the Kreuzberg districts adjacent to the Berlin Wall, inhabited about halfway by immigrants. The renowned author Esra Akcan, related in many ways to Turkey, Berlin and the USA, narrates the history and reverberations of this architectural-political event.

Exploring the implications of the concept of »open« as a common metaphor in the era of global connections, this lecture defines open architecture as the translation of a new ethics of hospitality into design process. It analyses the urban renewal of Berlin-Kreuzberg (IBA 1984/87), where a large number of established and cutting-edge architects were invited to design public housing in a neighbourhood composed of almost fifty percent noncitizens who had arrived as guest workers or refugees. Giving voice not only to architects and policy makers, but also residents through oral history and storytelling the lecture discusses these topics in relation to noncitizen rights to the city, and translates the emerging concept of hospitality in order to define different forms and terms of open architecture.

Dienstag, 19. Juni • 19.30 Uhr
Bücherbogen am Savignyplatz
Stadtbahnbogen 593–594, 10623 Berlin