Migration and Memory

architectural office feld72
project Million Donkey Hotel, Prata Sannita, Italy
 

Can you build a hotel in 24 days?

 

Nearly three-quarters of Europe’s population now lives in cities and this figure is growing. This means not only the constant growth of cities and suburbs but the disappearance of familiar cultural and natural landscapes. Migration and its consequences form the theme of the Million Donkey Hotel, a project by feld72, a collective of Italian, French and Austrian architects based in Vienna. The project is originated in the context of the Villaggio dell‘Arte from the Paesesaggio workgroup. In August 2005 a group of local and international artists was invited to address questions of identity, territory, social space and landscape in the Matese regional park near Naples, by means of art projects involving the participation of the local population. The artists stayed as residents for one month, working together with the local population and incorporating materials available in the villages to stimulate the microeconomy of the region.