YES to Renovation! NO to Demolition!
The European Citizens’ Initiative HouseEurope! advocates for EU laws that prioritise renovating and transforming existing buildings over demolition. It demands a “right to re-use” for existing buildings, based on three key pillars: tax incentives such as ultra-low VAT rates for renovations and reused materials (applicable to all buildings, not just housing); fair evaluation standards that ensure the potential of existing buildings is properly assessed, beyond just risk factors; and new value metrics that account for the grey energy and CO₂ content of existing buildings, which are currently overlooked.
Participants
HOUSEEUROPE! (BERLIN, GERMANY)
S+ (STATION.PLUS, D-ARCH, ETH ZURICH) ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
B+ PROTOTYPEN (BERLIN, GERMANY)
CCA – CANADIAN CENTRE FOR ARCHITECTURE MONTREAL, CANADA
Authorial Collaborators
To Build Law (2024, 49’): Francesco Garutti and Irene Chin (Conceived by); Joshua Frank (Director); Canadian Centre for Architecture (Producer). Verena Konrad; Vlaams Architectuur Instituut; Eliza Yokina; Ida Krizaj Leko; VI PER Architecture Gallery; Enlai Hooi; Tamara Kalantajevska; Association of Estonian Architects; Markus Lähteenmäki; Estelle Sabatier; Marion Waller; Architects for Future; Communitism; KÉK. Contemporary Architecture Centre; Demolition Take Down; Fosbury Architecture; Olga Trebuhina; Fondas; Florian Hertweck; Alexine Sammut; ACAN! Architects Climate Action Network; Saskia van Stein; Studio for Immediates Spaces; Aleksander Nowak; Architecture Matters; Oana Iacob; Igor Machata; Maja Vardjan; Ivan Blasi; ACAN! Architects Climate Action Network
Technical Collaborators
BUREAU N (Communication); WVH – Wiegand von Hartmann (Graphic Design)
Team
HouseEurope!, s+ (station.plus, D-ARCH, ETH Zurich), and b+ (bplus.xyz): Giacomo Ardesio, Severin Bärenbold, Arno Brandlhuber, Ludwig Engel, Olaf Grawert, Jonas Janke, Roberta Jurčić, Alina Kolar, Amélie Lambert, Maximilian Lewark, Josiane Schmidt, Alexander Throm; CCA Canadian Centre for Architecture, “To Build Law”: Irene Chin, Kayla Fragman, Joshua Frank, Francesco Garutti, HIT Studio, Camille Lavallée Prairie, Iris Ng.
Thanks
Thomas Bernauer, Oana Bogdan, Reinier de Graaf, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Joanna Kusiak, Anne Lacaton, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Barbara Metz, Ann Pettifor, Ruth Schagemann, Jean-Philippe Vassal, FormaFantasma, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Matthias Kohler
Supporters
ACE Architects’ Council of Europe; aut. Architektur und Tirol; Bauhaus Earth; BDA Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten; build_shift; Bundeskammer der Ziviltechniker:innen Österreich; Bundesstiftung Bauakademie; CAFx Copenhagen Architecture Festival; CCA Canadian Center for Architecture; Center for Capitalism Studies UCL; CIVA Culture – Architecture; COA Cultures of Assembly; DAZ Deutsches Architektur Zentrum; Deutsche Umwelthilfe; DGNB German Sustainable Building Council; European Triennial of Modernism; Experimental; Fundació Mies van der Rohe; German Zero; GRÜNE LIGA Netzwerk Ökologischer Bewegungen; LINA The European Architecture Platform; LUCA Luxembourg Center For Architecture; MAO Museum of Architecture and Design; nexture+; Pavillon de l’Arsenal; Vlaamse Architectuur Instituut; vai Vorarlberger Architektur Institut; Department of Architecture of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; JUNG; Toni Piech Foundation
