A CLT pavilion to celebrate 500 years of social housing

Rotterdam-based architectural firm MVRDV designed a house-shaped pavilion made entirely of CLT to celebrate the world’s oldest social housing complex’s 500th birthday.

The Fuggerei in Augsburg, Germany, is the world’s oldest social housing complex. For its 500th birthday developed a presentation of a “Fuggerei Code”. For the future of social housing, alongside a series of studies for future Fuggereien around the world, which is displayed in the CLT pavilion.

Called the Next500 Pavilion, located outside the townhall of Augsburg, the structure is long, narrow and gabled. The form is inspired by the long-terraced houses of the Fuggerei itself. However, rather than a single straight block, one end of the pavilion is curved and raised up to suggest its role in looking out to the future Fuggereien, both in Augsburg and around the world. This lifted end forms an 8.5-metre cantilever that provides a lookout point to view the town hall itself.

The walls, floor, and roof are built from prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels. The used wood stores carbon, plus the CLT panels are demountable so it can be deconstructed and relocated. In addition, the wood is sourced from the Fuggerei’s own forests and a lcal carpenter created the wooden interiors.

Inside, the pavilion is split into various rooms for the exhibition and events.

Photos: MVRDV / © Eckhart Matthäus