Living - utopia and reality [IN PERSON Heidrun Holzfeind]

Heidrun Holzfeind's work is characterised by an interest in social utopian architectures and their examination through interviews with the residents. In doing so, she carefully works out both the spatial conditions and the needs of the people, their everyday lives, their frustrations and the sense of community in the apartment block. Za Żelazną Bramą is a complex of 19 high-rise buildings in the centre of Warsaw, built on the ruins of the Jewish ghetto. Corviale portrays the one-kilometre-long residential complex of the same name on the outskirts of Rome. The residents talk about the lack of infrastructure, feelings of home and prejudices that stigmatise Corviale as a settlement with high unemployment, crime and drug use. (bbu)

In conversation with Heidrun Holzfeind: Brigitta Burger-Utzer