In architectural and urban history, the 1984/87 Internationale Bauausstellung Berlin (International Building Exhibition Berlin, or short IBA) with its numerous buildings by architects later celebrated as stars and its associated postmodern paradigm shift in urban planning towards the European city has long been the subject of historical consideration. Critical scholarship in recent years, primarily by international authors, has addressed the social problems of the time, such as the liberalization of the housing market, migration and integration, renovation of old buildings and participation. 1 However, little attention has been paid to the fact that the IBA, with its primary mission of making West Berlin’s city center, ruined by a failed urban development and housing policy, a place worth living in once more, at the same time sought to create or upgrade living space not only on socially acceptable, but also radically ecological conditions.

Marcus Garvey Park Village ist ein sozialer Wohnungsbau, den das Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies zwischen 1973 und 1976 im New Yorker Stadtteil Brooklyn gebaut hat. Es handelte sich um die Umsetzung eines Prototyps für niedriggeschossigen, hoch verdichteten Wohnungsbau, der von der staatlichen Urban Development Corporation in Auftrag gegeben worden war. Kooperationspartner war das Museum of Modern Art, wo das Projekt in einer eigenen Ausstellung unter dem Titel „Another Chance for Housing“ gezeigt wurde. Der Wohnungsbau war das einzige realisierte Bauprojekt des Institute, das von 1967 bis 1985 in New York Bestand hatte und sich vor allem als Zentrum der Architekturdebatten einen Namen machte. Kim Förster nimmt das Bau- und Ausstellungsprojekt zum Anlass, um das Verhältnis von Kulturgeschehen, Architekturwelt und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit zu untersuchen. Die von Förster geführten Interviews lassen die Protagonisten dieser einzigartigen Architektur- und Kulturproduktion, u.a. Kenneth Frampton und Peter Eisenman, zu Wort kommen. Der Zusammenschnitt der Gespräche als oral history erlaubt Erkenntnisse über die jeweiligen Interessen der Kooperationspartner und Einblicke in das Selbstverständnis des Institute als Architekturbüro, bevor es sich als Bildungs- und Kultureinrichtung behaupten konnte.

Marcus Garvey Park Village is a low-income housing project that was built between 1973 and 1976 by the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in Brooklyn, New York, as an implementation of a low-rise high-density prototype commissioned by the New York State Urban Development Corporation. The Museum of Modern Art was a project partner and exhibited the prototype in a dedicated exhibit titled “Another Chance for Housing.” The housing project constitutes the only building ever realized by the Institute, active from 1967 to 1985 in New York and known mainly as a center of architectural debate. Kim Förster looks at the building and exhibition project in order to consider the relationship between metropolitan culture, the architectural profession, and public relations. The interviews conducted by Förster give a voice to the protagonists of this unique architectural and cultural production, among them Kenneth Frampton and Peter Eisenman. As oral history, the edited version of these conversations affords insights into the particular interests of the project partners and into the role of the Institute as an architectural practice, before it affirmed its position as an educational and cultural institution.