Project: GHETTO
Award: Future Projects - Residential, Silver, 2023
Location: Venice, Italy
Architect: Henriquez Partners Architects
Answering the Venice Biennale Architettura 2021 question “How will we live together?”, GHETTO is a theoretical project that encourages individuals to consider the architect’s role in creating spaces for inclusion. It imagines a physical conduit for the redistribution of wealth from tourists to refugees by transferring equity garnered in the development process in a mutually beneficial manner. GHETTO proposes the resettlement of 1,000 refugees into Venice financed by the sale of timeshare condominiums for American tourists. The inspiration came from Cannaregio – where a 16th century influx of Jewish arrivals into Venice led to the first ghetto in history – and from a desire to illustrate that architecture has the potential to be an expression of social justice.
Design highlights:
GHETTO is imagined across four architectural islands, each of which are positioned near one of four compelling sites: the Venetian ghetto, Stazione di Santa Lucia, Piazza San Marco, and the Arsenale. These sites were carefully selected to parallel four key-influencing factors in Venice: the Jewish ghetto as project inspiration, the refugee crisis, Venetian over-tourism and challenging the traditional role of the architect.
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Photo credit: Henriquez Partners Architects
LEAD ARCHITECT: Gregory Henriquez