Architecture Activism documents ten projects that specifically address social problems and societal needs around the globe in which architecture is used as a means of actively fostering the development of livable places and environments. Among them is SOLARKIOSK, a self-initiated project that empowers people in off-grid communities by bringing clean energy and light into darkness.

‘Phylloxera Vastarix’ is a parasite that originated in North America and infests the roots of vines. It is, in a manner of speaking, emblematic for GRAFT. In the mid-19th-century, it spread across Europe, infesting the native vines of European vineyards. Within a short space of time, one of the most prestigious, identity-forming cultural achievements of the Occident was at risk of being extinguished. The historical irony is that to save them, American wild roots were imported that had developed an immunity to the parasite: by grafting the celebrated, aristocratic scion onto the wild, resistant roof of the New World, a robust hybrid was created. Its purity was sacrificed in the interests of survival and fertility.

Architecture Activism

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