Marie Becker
Heimat um/bauen. Vom Leerstand zum adaptiven Lebensraum für Geflüchtete. RWTH Aachen (Germany)
Overburdened municipalities and overcrowded reception centres. Headlines reminiscent of 2015 are once again appearing in the news. In 2025, the debate about housing refugees in Germany is as topical as it was a decade ago.
Housing is a human right.
Yet the attempt to create housing fails when the aim is merely to provide shelter. The objective of this master's thesis is to develop an architectural design for the conversion of a vacant building in Düsseldorf into housing for refugees, seeking a socially sustainable and durable solution. The chosen site is a listed 1950s office building, selected for its central location, strong infrastructure, and architectural value.
The design proposes mixed use as a strategy to foster integration and participation. Alongside accommodation for 86 residents, the program includes public facilities such as a training restaurant, ateliers, and rooms for neighborhood initiatives. Residential units are conceived with flexibility, offering single rooms, two-person units, and family apartments. Shared facilities and a new furniture catalogue encourage interaction and appropriation of space.
On an urban scale, the scheme enhances the surroundings through a traffic-calmed street and a raised plateau that becomes public space. A new building element completes the block edge and provides studio space.
The concept also anticipates alternative uses, for instance as temporary student housing, in order to prevent future vacancy and to build a „breathing" system that is able to react to the current situation. In uniting architecture with social responsibility, the project wishes to establish a place that offers refugees not merely shelter, but also prospects and a sense of belonging. Recognizing that refugees hold a legitimate right to housing, architecture can foster a sense of dignity and safety, It has the capacity to welcome, to provide protection, and to support the experience of truly arriving.
SCHUNCK cannot guarantee the correctness of content and expression. The participants themselves are responsible for their entries. The copyright of the projects underlies to the authors, any reproduction or use of the shown material is strictly forbidden.