What It Takes to Make a Home
A film conceived by Giovanna Borasi and directed by Daniel Schwartz
What does it mean to live in the city without a place you can call your own? What role can architects have in addressing homelessness? And how can cities become better homes for all? The documentary film What It Takes to Make a Home (2019) follows a conversation between architects Michael Maltzan (Los Angeles) and Alexander Hagner (Vienna), who have been grappling with these questions over many years and through various projects. While the cities and the political and economic contexts in which Maltzan and Hagner work differ, both search for long-term strategies for housing instead of reacting with ad hoc solutions. Focussing on some causes and conditions of homelessness, the film questions the role architects can play toward overcoming the stigmatization of people experiencing it in order to build more inclusive cities.
This film was made available in its entirety on 30 November 2020. See here for more information about this project.
What It Takes to Make a Home is the first of a three-part documentary series produced by the CCA that examines the ways in which changing societies, new economic pressures, and increasing population density are affecting the homes of various communities. It is followed by When We Live Alone.
