Assemble. How we build

About

​How we build, how things are made, how materials are put together, these are all indicators of the state of a society.

In the work of the London collective Assemble the focus is on changing the status quo through joint action. They combine social activation, poetic spaces, ecological and economic sustainability in a unique way. Their projects are prototypes of how society could build differently.

The Architekturzentrum Wien presents the first overview exhibition of the work of Assemble worldwide. After completing their studies at the University of Cambridge the 18 members of the collective began to work together and only 5 years later were awarded the Turner Prize, Europe’s most respected award in the area of contemporary visual art. 

With even their first work, Cineroleum, a temporary cinema in a disused petrol station, they already attracted attention. A short time later they created the Yardhouse, a cultural landmark that offers affordable workspaces, and with the Blackhorse Workshop they made one of the several social undertakings in their young career. In the framework of Granby Four Streets they worked together with the local Community Land Trust on the architectural, social, and economic re-appropriation of a historical working class district in Liverpool, Currently they are planning a new art gallery for Goldsmith College in London. 

The exhibition enables ten of the prototypes they have carried out to be experienced in the form of large-scale installations. What can Vienna learn from Assemble? To explore this question a guest professorship for Assemble was established at the TU Vienna. Parallel to the opening of the exhibition students are building a pavilion in the courtyard of the Az W which, during the summer months, will offer a public workshop and will serve as an airy meeting point.