NOW AND THEN. THE SOCIAL HOUSING RETROFIT STUDIO

Summer 2025

Ernst-May-Prize

The transformation of post-war social housing has become a central theme in current architectural debate, driven by the need to address the obsolescence of these buildings and improve social conditions and spatial qualities. As many of these buildings approach the end of their life cycle, finding effective solutions becomes critical. As part of the 2025 edition of the Ernst May award, the studio will engage with a real-world context in collaboration with Unternehmensgruppe Nassauische Heimstätte | Wohnstadt (NHW). The studio will explore how to rehabilitate aging social housing within financial constraints, fostering systemic thinking to examine transformation in specific socio-economic and physical contexts. Students will work independently yet collaboratively, analyzing case studies and developing feasible design scenarios. The focus is on strategies grounded in the realities of the buildings. The studio’s output will be a comprehensive report for NHW, with proposals evaluated by a jury and showcased in an exhibition in Frankfurt.