We are more familiar with architecture’s ability to keep people out than to welcome them, and we are more familiar with migration as an emergency–a temporary and extreme condition like a refugee camp–that is supposed to disappear once the newcomers dissolve into the population. The reality is more complex. There are many kinds of migrants: from solo activists seeking political asylum to families fleeing climate change or workers moving by choice from the countryside to the city. They arrive at different speeds and with a variety of resources and needs. Building for those who will come is always imperfect; it reveals many limitations of architecture and questions architectural responsibility.

This event presents four contemporary approaches to the role of the architect in the context of migration:

• Alice Covatta on a university studio that uses urban cartography and data to map a “doorway” neighbourhood in Montreal.

• Yasaman Esmaili on Studio Chahar’s work with mangroves on Qeshm Island, Iran.

• Antigone Kotanidis on an Athenian network of welcome “Curing the Limbo”.

• Christoph Wagner and Wenke Schladitz on a Berlin apartment building designed to mix populations, resist discrimination, and encourage integration.

With responses by Shumi Bose and hosted by Lev Bratishenko, CCA Curator Public.

As a prologue to the conversation, we are publishing five short talks on lesser-known 20th century mass-housing projects. Watch them here:

Shumi Bose is Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, London.
Sarah Charlton is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Alice Covatta is Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Montréal (UdeM).
Yasaman Esmaili is an Iranian architect and founder of Studio Chahar.
Sharif Kahatt is Professor of Architecture at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima.
Antigone Kotanidis was Project Manager of “Curing the Limbo” and is currently Regional Partnership and Compliance Officer at the International Rescue Committee, Athens.
Soe Hwang is Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture and Building Science at Chung-Ang University, Seoul.
Wenke Schladitz is design partner with christoph wagner architekten, Berlin.
Nadia Shah is Adjunct Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.
Stavros Stavrides is Professor at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens.
Christoph Wagner is an architect and the founder of christoph wagner architekten, Berlin.