Together!

An exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum, curated by Ilka and Andreas Ruby and EM2N.

Housing is scarce – that much has become evident in the last few years. As real estate prices in big cities continue to skyrocket, conventional ideas of housing development prove unable to meet demands. The reaction to these challenges has been a silent revolution in contemporary architecture – towards collective building and living. Using models, films, and walk-in displays, the exhibition Together! The New Architecture of the Collective is the first exhibition that comprehensively illuminates this topic and makes it spatially tangible. The exhibition in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) addresses this global phenomenon by presenting a broad array of collective building and living projects from Europe, Asia, and the United States. An overview of historical precedents for the current wave of collectives demonstrates that the idea of collectivity has been a recurring theme in the history of architecture, from the reformist ideas of the nineteenth century to the hippies and squatters of the twentieth who touted the slogan “Make love, not lofts”. On behalf of the Hamburg Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (BSW), curators Ilka and Andreas Ruby expand the existing exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum with an additional section that deals with the situation of cooperative living in Hamburg. The results of the “Dwelling - and what else?” concept-finding process will be presented, along with ideas on how cooperative housing estates from the 1950s to 1970s can be adapted to today’s needs.