Learning from marburg

Süddeutsche Zeitung am 22.12.2019

Architecture for homeless: “If you don‘t have an address, you‘re not part of the society”

Recent situations in Marburg suggest that homeless individuals are housed by the Municipality in the district of Waldtal, where any homeless individuals can apply to the municipality before acquiring access to the rented rooms. These rooms can only be allocated for a specific amount of time, which means that the occupants will need to find someplace else to stay, if not back on the streets.

Due to the limited number of individuals who can apply for these services (48), the concept of ‘Vinzidorf’ was established to allow homeless individuals to have ‘permanent shelters.

Austrian architect Alexander Hagner designed the Vinzidorf village found in Vienna, Austria and this led to interest from neighbouring Germany and the team led by Jurgen Rausch took on the idea of replicating this village in Marburg for the homeless.

The project is comprised of standardised prefabricated microhomes that are semi detached in nature and can be accessed individually by each user, with an area of 7.2m2

The microhomes are fully furnished with all the necessary amenities for each user to make use at a construction cost of for 24 of these homes for 1.5 million Euros compared to the regular price for rental blocks at 2.8 million Euros.

The user group in Marburg would be:

• Homeless individuals who cannot find a home by themselves or with the help from the municipality

• Individuals displaying social behavioural deficiencies.

Some challenges which may be faced during the implementation of this idea:

• Long-lasting homelessness

• Delinquency/ criminality.

• Refusal of help.

• Chronic diseases.

• Drug abuse.

• Extreme poverty.

• Eviction notices.