Program
Archiv

3 p.m. - 6 p.m.

UAH! GOES BIENNALE 
Talking about Unconventional Affordable Housing!

3 p.m. - 4 p.m. Can’t we just demolish it?
4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Who manages and takes care of it?
5 p.m. - 6 p.m. What if no one owned it?

Guests: Constanze Wolfgring (Vienna, Milan), Francesca Serrazanetti (Milan), Gennaro Postiglione (Milan), Angela Barbanente (Bari), Massimo Bricocoli (Milan), Elena Marchigiani (Trieste), Daniele Petrosino (Bari)

The exhibition repeatedly raises the question of existing buildings. How can former administrative and office buildings work as spaces for unusual living concepts? How can existing residential buildings be adapted for new ways of living, working, and loving? What can we do with derelict sites and dilapidated buildings? And could existing buildings be a decisive resource in the realization of a BETTER LIVING for all? The pavilion hosts a research team from Italy together with a network of design studios from European universities. UAH! – Unconventional Affordable Housing – explores new possibilities for contemporary housing and living at the interface between affordability and unconventionality. Starting from a reflection on existing housing practices, policies, and projects, the project experiments with transformative reuse in three Italian contexts – Bari, Milan, and Trieste –, methodically carried out as “research by design.” The projects, research, and research questions are critically discussed in six ASSEMBLIES.
www.uah.polimi.it

Constanze Wolfgring is a research fellow in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano, where she earned her PhD in urban planning, design, and policies. Her research focuses on housing policies, urban regeneration, ecological transition policies, social inequalities, and innovative housing solutions, with a focus on Italy and Austria.

Francesca Serrazanetti, PhD in architecture, is an adjunct professor and research fellow in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. Her research interests focus on the relation between architecture and people, permanence, reuse, unconventionality, and the performativity of space. She is an editor of the architecture magazine Casabella and a co-founder of the multidisciplinary magazine Stratagemmi.

Gennaro Postiglione is a full professor of interior architecture and Vice Director of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. His research focuses on domestic interiors – and the relationships between dwelling culture, domestic architecture, and modernity –, on transformative reuse through research-by-design, and on unconventional housing models. He is the Principal Investigator of the project UAH! Unconventional Affordable Housing.

Angela Barbanente is a full professor of urban and regional planning at Politecnico di Bari. Her research focuses on the analysis of processes and practices of territorial transformation – investigated through the lenses of theories of social learning and social mobilization – and on the role of institutions and regulatory systems in these processes. From 2005 to 2015, she served as the Regional Councilor for Territorial Quality in Apulia.

Massimo Bricocoli is a full professor of urban planning and policy design and Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. His work focuses on the interface between welfare and urban policies, housing policies and projects, urban ethnography, and urban regeneration in both academic and applied research. He is the Scientific Coordinator of OCA, Observatory on Housing Affordability, in Milan.

Elena Marchigiani is an architect and an associate professor in urban planning at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at Università degli Studi di Trieste. Her research focuses on planning tools, urban projects, and policy design in the fields of social housing and neighborhood regeneration, welfare and inclusive mobility, the building of collaborative processes, town planning and city management, and territorial and landscape planning and design.

Daniele Petrosino is an associate professor of sociology in the Department of Political Sciences at Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro. He holds a PhD in sociology and was a postdoctoral fellow and visiting scholar at McGill University and the University of Barcelona. His research focuses on ethnonationalism, ethnic relations, migration, identity, and social inequalities.

3 p.m. - 6 p.m.

UAH! GOES BIENNALE 
Talking about Unconventional Affordable Housing!

Guests: Constanze Wolfgring (Vienna, Milan), Francesca Serrazanetti (Milan), Gennaro Postiglione (Milan), Angela Barbanente (Bari), Massimo Bricocoli (Milan), Elena Marchigiani (Trieste), Daniele Petrosino (Bari)

3 p.m. - 4 p.m. (Why) do we have to share?
4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Affordable for whom, and for how long?
5 p.m. - 6 p.m. Where’s the line between the home and the city?

The exhibition repeatedly raises the question of existing buildings. How can former administrative and office buildings work as spaces for unusual living concepts? How can existing residential buildings be adapted for new ways of living, working, and loving? What can we do with derelict sites and dilapidated buildings? And could existing buildings be a decisive resource in the realization of a BETTER LIVING for all? The pavilion hosts a research team from Italy together with a network of design studios from European universities. UAH! – Unconventional Affordable Housing – explores new possibilities for contemporary housing and living at the interface between affordability and unconventionality. Starting from a reflection on existing housing practices, policies, and projects, the project experiments with transformative reuse in three Italian contexts – Bari, Milan, and Trieste –, methodically carried out as “research by design.” The projects, research, and research questions are critically discussed in six ASSEMBLIES.
www.uah.polimi.it

Constanze Wolfgring is a research fellow in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano, where she earned her PhD in urban planning, design, and policies. Her research focuses on housing policies, urban regeneration, ecological transition policies, social inequalities, and innovative housing solutions, with a focus on Italy and Austria.

Francesca Serrazanetti, PhD in architecture, is an adjunct professor and research fellow in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. Her research interests focus on the relation between architecture and people, permanence, reuse, unconventionality, and the performativity of space. She is an editor of the architecture magazine Casabella and a co-founder of the multidisciplinary magazine Stratagemmi.

Gennaro Postiglione is a full professor of interior architecture and Vice Director of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. His research focuses on domestic interiors – and the relationships between dwelling culture, domestic architecture, and modernity –, on transformative reuse through research-by-design, and on unconventional housing models. He is the Principal Investigator of the project UAH! Unconventional Affordable Housing.

Angela Barbanente is a full professor of urban and regional planning at Politecnico di Bari. Her research focuses on the analysis of processes and practices of territorial transformation – investigated through the lenses of theories of social learning and social mobilization – and on the role of institutions and regulatory systems in these processes. From 2005 to 2015, she served as the Regional Councilor for Territorial Quality in Apulia.

Massimo Bricocoli is a full professor of urban planning and policy design and Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. His work focuses on the interface between welfare and urban policies, housing policies and projects, urban ethnography, and urban regeneration in both academic and applied research. He is the Scientific Coordinator of OCA, Observatory on Housing Affordability, in Milan.

Elena Marchigiani is an architect and an associate professor in urban planning at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at Università degli Studi di Trieste. Her research focuses on planning tools, urban projects, and policy design in the fields of social housing and neighborhood regeneration, welfare and inclusive mobility, the building of collaborative processes, town planning and city management, and territorial and landscape planning and design.

Daniele Petrosino is an associate professor of sociology in the Department of Political Sciences at Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro. He holds a PhD in sociology and was a postdoctoral fellow and visiting scholar at McGill University and the University of Barcelona. His research focuses on ethnonationalism, ethnic relations, migration, identity, and social inequalities.

6 p.m.

Meeting with Quarticciolo at ZENOBIA
Campo Junghans, 487/B
Giudecca
30133 Venice

Founded in March 2024, ZENOBIA is a non-profit sports and social promotion association dedicated to making sports accessible to all, breaking down barriers and fostering community. Beyond sports, ZENOBIA is also a cultural hub with a beautiful library, where book presentations, musical moments, and social events are organized to strengthen the sense of community and create shared spaces for all.

A dialogue between Quarticciolo and new Viennese neighborhoods

August 30

11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Quarticciolo Ribelle presents itself
Book presentation of Zerocalcare la foresta contro il deserto
Presentation of all the activities of the PoloCivico Quarticciolo, as well as the new Bottega Quarticciolo project 

2 p.m.
Guided curator’s tour through the pavilion

3.30 p.m. – 5.30 p.m. 
OPEN ASSEMBLY
A dialogue between Quarticciolo and new Viennese neighborhoods

Guests: activists of Quarticciolo (Rome), Elke Rauth, Christoph Laimer (dérive - Magazine for Critical Urabn Research, Vienna), Robert Temel (Architectural and Urban Researcher, Vienna)

Lively ground floor zones, mixes of living, production, and culture, usable green areas, and spaces for the community make a good neighborhood, but these are often difficult to realize in new districts. The pressure of “usability” is too strong and there is often a lack of initiative on the part of residents. The AGENCY asks about the future of neighborhoods. What creates solidarity? Which initiatives need which spaces? How do you get inhabitants to take care of a neighborhood? In search of answers, the AGENCY looks to Rome, to an existing neighborhood.

Quarticciolo is a fascist Borgata that was designed by the architect Roberto Nicolini in the 1940s and became one of the garrisons of the resistance in Rome. Here, the Casa del Fascio, the abandoned former police headquarters, later became a housing occupation. “Quarticciolo Ribelle” was born and a public gym was started, followed by an after-school program, a brewing laboratory, a medical clinic, and a printing workshop – all self-organized activities that reacted to the disappearance of public services from the neighborhood. Recently, the government reacted to drug dealing by calling for the militarization of the area – the Red Zone – in order to clear away all illegal activities: drug dealing as well as the self-managed social network. Reuniting the city’s social movements, the neighborhood answers: we already have a plan!

Elke Rauth is the Director of urbanize! International Festival for Urban Explorations and a member of the Editorial Board of dérive - Magazine for Critical Urban Research.Through the self-organized housing project Bikes and Rails in Vienna she is part of the habiTAT Mietshäuser Syndikat (Tenement Houses Syndicate). Elke Rauth is interested in the city as socio-political space, the expansion of radical democracy, and the organization of the post-capitalist transition in theory and practice.

Christoph Laimer is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of dérive - Magazine for Critical Urban Research. He is a member of INURA (International Network for Urban Research and Action), Bikes and Rails, and habiTAT Mietshäuser Syndikat (Tenement Houses Syndicate). In 2021, he published the book Gemeinschaftliches Wohnen und selbstorganisiertes Bauen together with Andrej Holm.

Robert Temel is an independent architectural and urban researcher and consultant in Vienna. He studied architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and completed the postgraduate program in sociology at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna. He is concerned with the use and production of architecture and the city with a focus on housing, urban design, and public space. Since 2013, he has been a spokesperson of the Plattform Baukulturpolitik (Platform for Building Culture Policy) and a member of the Advisory Board for Building Culture at the Ministry of Culture. Temel is author of Baukultur for Urban Neighbourhoods. Process Culture through Concept Tendering (BBSR 2020), Ein Stück Stadt bauen. Leben am Helmut-Zilk-Park (Building a piece of the city. Living at Helmut Zilk Park, Stadt Wien/ÖBB 2019) and “Design instead of participation. The Vienna Sargfabrik as a sample project of urban life” in Together! The New Architecture of the Collective (2017).

3.30 p.m.
Guided curator’s tour through the pavilion

4.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m.
ASSEMBLY

Video-Documentation ASSEMBLY #3

Guests:
Florencia Andreola, Azzurra Muzzonigro, Julia Girardi-Hoog, Elena Fusar Poli

Gender planning is a long-established means of ensuring the quality of life in many cities. With regard to BETTER LIVING, however, we need to do more than merely create a city that is suitable for everyday life. In this context, the strategy of intersectional feminism could provide a basis for many things: a multiple view of a city’s problems, activism for an inclusive public realm, radical new housing typologies, and co-habitation with nature. A true caring city is inconceivable without an intersectional feminist perspective. This starts with the fair distribution and payment of all care work, which is fundamental to everything. BETTER LIVING & FEMINISM deals with intersectional feminist strategies for creating a BETTER LIVING for all, i.e. for a life beyond families, post-private spaces, supportive structures, and potential commons in a future caring city.

Florencia Andreola is an independent researcher with a PhD in Architectural History from the University of Bologna. Her work combines theory and practice as it explores the intersections between architecture, the city, and gender. She is the author and editor of several publications.

Azzurra Muzzonigro is an architect, curator, and urban researcher. She teaches Urban and Social Design at NABA and Domus Academy and holds an MSc from The Bartlett (UCL) and a PhD in Urban Studies. She is a co-founder of Waiting Posthuman Studio and the author of many publications. In 2022, they jointly founded Sex & the City, a nonprofit organization that explores the city through a gender perspective. The association uses public programs, research, and practical projects to advocate for urban policies that prioritize the well-being of all citizens. Its key publications include Milan Gender Atlas (2021), a mapping of gendered experiences in Milan, and Free, not Brave. Women and Fear in Public Space (2024), which investigates the relationship between urban planning and women’s fear of crime in the city.

Julia Girardi-Hoog holds a PhD in the Sociology of Architecture and has been working for Vienna City Council since 2013. She managed the EU Horizon 2020 funded project “Smarter Together” with Munich, Lyon, and Venice, which implemented inclusive smart city projects. Julia Girardi-Hoog has been Vienna’s Gender Planner since 2023 and is responsible for ensuring that the city’s public spaces and social housing respond to the needs of different target groups and, especially, vulnerable sections of society. Julia also teaches at the University of Vienna.

6 p.m.
ASC (Assemblea Sociale per la Casa) 

Screening of the film Mama Mercy (1h12, 2023) by Alessandra Cutolo in the presence of the director and some of the actresses 

11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Spin Time presents itself:

Chiara Cacciotti, author, presents the book Qui è tutto abitato (Here everything is inhabited)
Ottavia Cernuschi, Giacomo Ruben Florenzano, Emmanuel Koami Yovogna, Sara Moutawakil presents Spin Time Fanzine At Home
Celilia Pellizzari and Rebecca Venzi from Scomodo, present the special issue L'abbandono non è vuoto (Abandonment is not empty)

3.30 p.m.
Guided curator´s tour trough the pavilion

4.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m
OPEN ASSEMBLY
A dialogue in between members of Spin Time (Rome) and Sargfabrik (Vienna)

Video-Documentation ASSEMBLY #2

Guests:
Robert Korab / Sargfabrik Vienna
Chiara Caciotti, Ottavia Cernuschi, Alessandra Cutolo, Mattia Ferrari, Giulia Fiocca, Giacomo Ruben Florenzano, Emmanuel Koami Yovogna, Sara Moutawakil, Cecilia Pellizzari, Paolo Perrini and Rebecca Venzi / Santa Croce / Spin Time Labs, Rome

How do we want to live, work, and love together in the future? The AGENCY poses the question of new typologies for new forms of coexistence. Santa Croce/Spin Time, a 10-story squatted former administration building in Rome, serves as a case study. The multiple uses of Spin Time are remarkable. In addition to housing for 450 people from 27 nations, it offers more than 30 different social and cultural infrastructures such as a theater, a carpentry workshop, a restaurant, a printing workshop, a museum, a youth club, a learning workshop, the headquarters of the well-known youth magazine Scomodo and more. Protagonists from Spin Time will join a representatives of a co-housing project in Vienna to discuss possible future typologies in which the coexistence of many could be the principle that underlies all considerations. Which structures support such coexistence? What spaces, what legal means, and what policies are needed? What do the Sargfabrik in Vienna and Spin Time have in common, and what distinguishes them?

Robert Korab

Robert Korab has worked as an environmental scientist, urban planner, project developer, general planner, and property developer. With his company raum & kommunikation, he has developed and implemented more than 20 residential and commercial real estate projects, with a focus on community and co-housing initiatives. His other professional priorities have included the programming and managing of cooperative planning processes, as well as the strategic development of large real estate portfolios. Korab has served on various juries and advisory boards, including the Housing Subsidy Advisory Board of the City of Vienna and the Expert Advisory Board of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund. Since 1992, he has been a lecturer at Austrian universities in the

REHEARSING CHANGE
What if architecture wasn‘t a solution, but a rehearsal?
Speaker: Amy Perkins (Zurich), Daniele Santucci (Zurich), Michael Obrist (Vienna), Yves Behar 

At Architecture During Art, LAUFEN brings together the curators of the Austrian, German and Swiss pavilions of the Biennale Architettura 2025—alongside designer and entrepreneur Yves Behar—for a conversation on how architecture and design can respond to climate stress, social inequality and institutional transformation. How do we create spaces—physical, political,
imagined—for coexistence in times of rupture? A d ialogue on responsibility, imagination and collective agency.

Panel moderated by Tanja Heuchele.

ARCHITECTURE DURING ART is a recurring event of thought-provoking conversations to coincide with ART BASEL, established by LAUFEN.

You can find more information about the panellists and how to register here.

Talk with Michael Obrist, Sabine Pollak, and Lorenzo Romito
Moderation: Anh-Linh Ngo

How can we readdress the issues of affordable housing and the right to the city? Michael Obrist, Sabine Pollak, and Lorenzo Romito are the curators of the Austrian Pavilion at this year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice and are presenting their project in the Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin. The project focusses on a comparison between two models – Vienna’s subsidized housing meets the self-organization of Rome’s civil society – and asks whether a combination of the two could show us new ways out of the social and ecological crisis.

The event will take place in German and English.
Please register at: Link

12 a.m.
Tour of the city with ASC, Assemblea Sociale della Casa

Meeting point: Vaporetto Station Palanca (Giudecca)
(Short-term change due to the Vogalonga)

11 a.m.
Open presentation of a range of social realities from Venice in the courtyard of the pavilion

2 p.m.
Guided curator’s tour through the pavilion

3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Assembly Founding Event: BETTER LIVING in Venice

Guests: ASC, Microclima, OCIO, Officina Marghera, Pandora, Poveglia per tutti, ReBiennale, Rivolta, Sale Docks, Veras

The AGENCY FOR BETTER LIVING launches the series of ASSEMBLIES: What can we do and how can we act? The kick-off event of the AGENCY will embrace the social and environmental realities of Venice, our guest city. The presentation of various groups and their activities will mark the establishment of the ASSEMBLY. Guests and visitors will help to define the rules for the ASSEMBLIES: the form of discussions and procedures, the possibilities of participation, and the documentation of the process. Urgent topics will be addressed, experiences of living will be exchanged, and strategies for BETTER LIVING developed: an “Intelligens” will emerge.