AZ Awards 2021 Finalist: Ghetto - AZ Awards

People’s Choice: Urban Design Visions

AZ Awards 2021 Finalist: Ghetto

Henriquez’s plan comprises four architectural islands in the canal with timeshares for tourists that subsidize refugee housing.

Year: 2021
Location: Venice, Italy
Firm: Henriquez Partners Architects, Canada
Category: Urban Design Visions

Overrun with tourists during the summer months, Venice has also seen an influx of refugees in the past half-decade — two challenges the city is struggling to handle. With his proposal Ghetto, architect Gregory Henriquez asks if the former phenomenon might be leveraged to mitigate the latter: Tourists bring capital, which could, in theory, support newcomers. Henriquez’s plan comprises four architectural islands in the canal with timeshares for tourists that subsidize refugee housing. Under this scheme, denizens of the two Venices — the vacationers’ paradise and the port-of-call for migrants — would have to share neighbourhoods and acknowledge each other’s humanity.

Team: Gregory Henriquez with Sarah Schlegelmilch, Patricia Tewfik, Peter Wood, Bartosz Palus, Nicolette Williams, Sara Zonouzi, Quinci Cohen, UNHCR and European Cultural Centre

People’s Choice: Urban Design Visions

AZ Awards 2021 Finalist: Ghetto

Henriquez’s plan comprises four architectural islands in the canal with timeshares for tourists that subsidize refugee housing.