Focus on housing for refugees at Biennale

Venice

THE Venice Architecture Biennale is usually a showcase of prestigious architecture projects from around the world, but Germany's entry this year has taken a different angle - focusing on simple shelters used to house asylum seekers.

The structures, designed and developed to deal with the influx of migrants into Europe from Africa and the Middle East, provide a direct contrast to Germany's 2014 submission - a scale replica of the former German Chancellor's residence.

The curators said at the Biennale, which opened on May 28 and runs till Nov 27, that they hoped the exhibition would inspire a revival of well-designed social housing across Europe. Rather than temporary shelters, governments should build large-scale q…