Bijou or blunder?

Diving into the «speech bubble forest», it becomes clear that the debates and opinions around demolition and climate, housing demands, ugly, impractical or historically valuable buildings are wide-ranging and part of day-to-day life. The exhibition poses questions on topics of negotiation in contemporary building culture and opens up the discussion: Who decides what is worth protecting? To what extent is participation in building culture possible? And why is the qualitative criterion of «beauty» also a matter of negotiation?

Committed to building culture

The discourse on building culture is dominated by experts, but the participation of the population is becoming increasingly important – and is desirable. In order to achieve a «high-quality building culture», as called for in the «Davos Declaration» of the European Ministers of Culture from 2018, civic participation and public awareness are key.
Four short films provide an insight into ways citizens are getting involved on behalf of their surroundings – be it with political activities or very directly with hands-on participation in restoration projects. 

Oh, so beautiful!

Beauty plays an important role in the discussion of building culture: what we judge as beautiful today might have been torn down without hesitation a few years ago. The demolition of the Villa Patumbah was also under discussion in the 1970s. Listen to how ideas of beautiful and good architecture have changed over time in the «beautiful» ladies’ salon. 

Or can that go?

And what if a building is now demolished? Before-and-after images make the change tangible and the «demolition heap» gives an idea of how resources and grey energy are consumed in the current wave of demolitions. The present debate on climate change clearly shows that a shift towards conservation in the building sector – which is responsible for large amounts of emissions – is also advisable from an ecological viewpoint.