Gazebo

In the Casette neighborhood on the Venetian island of Giudecca, originally a fishing village, numerous municipal properties remain vacant despite Venice’s housing shortage. The Assemblea Sociale per la Casa (ASC) has been occupying these apartments, renovating them, and making them available to those in need. As part of Open for Maintenance, Constructlab collaborated with ASC and dozens of Casette residents in a participatory workshop to upgrade existing community infrastructure. Together, they transformed a gazebo into a neighborhood meeting place, adding a roof, water collection points, furniture, information boards, and mobile carts for cooking, printing, and workshops. Protest banners became part of the setup: some can be hung out like laundry when an eviction takes place, putting the whole neighborhood into activist mode; others are carried into the city during demonstrations or form an exhibition on Casette’s history and ASC’s work, supporting the occupations. At the Biennale opening, the site was inaugurated with a sagra, a neighborhood festival, that contrasted the usual exclusive parties and brought citizens, activists, and visitors together. Since then, the place has functioned as a tool for solidarity: used as a meeting point, stage, cinema, and workshop, while also supporting the ongoing struggle for the right to housing in Venice.