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Empower Shack

Empower Shack

Galerie Eva Presenhuber

Timeline

—

Location

Zürich

Type

Exhibitions

Can art and architecture lend a voice to segments of the population that go unheard? The Empower Shack exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zürich, supported by Swisspearl, presented the ongoing collaboration between U-TT, South African NGO Ikhayalami (‘My Home’), Transsolar, Brillembourg Ochoa Foundation, Meyer Burger, the BLOCK ETH ITA Research Group, and video company. The Empower Shack team was established as a response to conventional approaches in dealing with urban informality, which are unsustainable and painstakingly slow in meeting the immediate needs of the vast majority of South Africa’s urban poor. With its roots in a research, design, and build workshop aimed at developing an innovative, replicable, affordable and sustainable shack prototype for Cape Town’s Khayelitsha (the third largest township in South Africa), the exhibition used film, photography, drawings, painting, and large-scale architectural installations to explore the complexity of living conditions in informal settlements, and the social role of architects in helping to address the economic, ecological and security challenges faced by residents.

Press Coverage:

“Urban-Think Tank Develops Housing Prototype for South African Slums,” Dezeen, 2014

“Die Chancen des Urbanen Wildwuchses” Greenpeace Magazine, 2014

“urban think tank introduces the empower shack to the slums of western cape,” DesignBoom, 2014

Empower Shack - 0
Empower Shack - 1
Empower Shack - 2
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Empower Shack - 5
Summary & Credits
LocationGalerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland
Year2014
CuratorsAlfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner
Exhibition CoordinatorsScott Lloyd, Daniel Schwartz
Exhibition TeamAlexis Kalagas, Giulia Celentano, Hans Rufer, Ilaria Riscassi, Marcel Aubert
Handpainted TypographyLea Becker
CollaboratorsNatalya Critchley, Martin Andersson, Adam Walker
SupportSwisspearl, ETH Zürich D-ARCH, Zumtobel, Meyer Burger
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