German Pavillon: Making Heimat. Germany, Arrival Country.

The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) is curating the German Pavilion exhibition Making Heimat. Germany, Arrival Country at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 – La Biennale di Venezia. In charge of the German contribution are Peter Cachola Schmal, general commissioner and director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Oliver Elser, curator at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, and the project coordinator Anna Scheuermann. The Berlin architecture office Something Fantastic is responsible for the overall design concept of the German Pavilion.
Four large openings in the walls of the German Pavilion have transformed it into an open house. Over 48 tons of brick were removed from the landmark-protected walls. The pavilion is open. Germany is open. Last year, Germany’s borders were kept open to receive over a million refugees. Although currently the EU borders are largely closed for refugees, the gesture of opening the house is a call to rethink Germany as a welcoming nation for immigrants.