Unit a and unit b in berlin masque. housing for a cultural transformation

Abstract

The Unit A and Unit B, pieces designed by John Hejduk in his Berlin Masque proposal, are a type of minimal and mobile housing. They were designed for a city where, at that time, thousands of housing units were being planned as part of the IBA Berlin competition, aimed at reconstructing neighborhoods adjacent to the wall built during the Cold War. The research work hypothesizes that these units were also designed for homeless people. Some projects, such as House for the Homeless, presented for the city of Riga or Bovisa in Milan, and the conditions expressed in the explanation of the Unit A and Unit B project, support this hypothesis. The connection with other projects by John Hejduk, such as the proposal developed prior to Units A and B, titled Retreat Masque, defines the artistic nature of these proposals. The visibility of the housing units in public space, the nature of activity, and the absence of a regulatory framework governing activities in public spaces mark the principles by which the design of these housing units has a transformative character in the city inherited from modernity. The social, cultural, and artistic transformation of the housing design is contextualized within other proposals put forward during the 20th century and the thoughts of Hannah Arendt on public space in the city. © 2025 Universidad de Sevilla. All rights reserved.