Vienna, Austria has a longstanding reputation for producing innovative, well-designed and successful affordable housing. As the curators of this exhibition devised its content, Hamlin Ventures was invited to organize a series of roundtables in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vienna to explore the differences in process and product between the design of affordable housing in the United States and Austria. This cultural exchange, commissioned by the Austrian government and led by William Menking and Wolfgang Foerster, brought together American and Austrian city officials, housing developers, affordable housing advocates, architects, and community activists to address both the process of affordable housing production and its outcome (i.e., built projects), and to look at ways we can learn from our different approaches. The exhibition and cultural exchange occurred in 2013 and continues to travel around the United States today before returning for a final show in Vienna.
Location: Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, N.Y.
Completed: 2013
Curators: William Menking, Wolfgang Foerster
Advisor: Abby Hamlin