Reporting from the Front

More and more people on the planet are looking for a decent place to live even though that is becoming harder and harder to achieve. In an increasingly complex world, attempts to create good architecture while overcoming material realities and difficult circumstances are always challenging. But many architects and communities the world over are rising to these challenges and are going beyond business as usual. The 15th International Architecture Exhibition will be all about these success stories and exemplary cases where architecture has made, is making, and will make a difference in the lives of everyday people by achieving what has previously seemed impossible. Reporting from the Front aims to explain to a broad audience what it means to improve the quality of life while working on the margins of society, often under adverse conditions, while facing pressing challenges, all while producing significant work. If we can learn from architectural practices that despite the scarcity of means intensify what is available instead of highlighting what is missing, we can understand what design tools are needed to overcome and subvert the forces that favour individual gain over collective benefit, that reduce We to just Me. We can come to an architecture that introduces a broader notion of gain: design as added value instead of an extra cost. Reporting from the Front will not be just a chronicle of passive witness but a testimony to work that balances hope and rigor in the quest for an architecture of the public good.