EUROPADORF, AUGSBURG-HOCHZOLL
Europadorf, built in the late 1950s for former forced laborers and displaced persons, was expanded in 2002 and now provides housing for refugees.
Status | Type of residents |
Number of residents | Modular units |
Construction costs (Euro/m²) | Building method |
Building (Detail) | Country |
Living space per person (m²/person) | Architect |
Commissioned by | Construction firm |
In 1999, the organization “Tür an Tür” took over “Europadorf,” which had been built in the late 1950s to house former forced laborers and displaced persons and consisted of 20 apartments. The organization added 16 apartments in 2002. The “Europadorf” is the only one of originally 7 estates that is still being used according to the intentions of the founder, Belgian Dominican priest Dominique Pire. To this day, the estate houses former “boat people,” refugee families, individual asylum seekers, Russian Jews, as well as Turkish and Kurdish refugees, and it is operated by the non-profit “Tür an Tür—miteinander wohnen und leben GmbH.”
The new structures close off two lengths of the square plot along the road, but are situated behind the building lines of the old buildings. The courtyard is almost closed off; however, the corners remain open. The north-facing exterior corridors that access each apartment enable every apartment to have a front door as well as a reception area. The materials here are left rough—concrete, galvanized steel, and untreated larch. The common areas are south-facing and aligned one after another in a row. They do not have balconies, so that the new buildings aren’t seen as more desirable than the old buildings and to underline the importance of the green space.
(Excerpt from project description)
