Image: Kurt Cleary

Made of 16 bathtubs with specially installed portholes, 'Yellow Submarine' was a hotel room/political housing statement, and one of the 24-winning designs in the 2015 Shabbyshabby Apartments competition. Created by the Glasgow-based and Lithuanian-staffed collective Urban Restart along with Kurt Cleary, the design is purposefully referred to in the past tense: only two days after it was erected in Munich, it was destroyed. This prompted speculation that vandals, or right-wing extremists opposed to refugees, were responsible.

Munich is one of the top ten most expensive cities in which to rent an apartment in Europe, a standing that feeds into the city's housing crisis. The crisis ties into larger housing concerns around the globe, including waves of refugees and other displaced populations. This foregrounded Yellow Submarine's response to the Shabbyshabby Apartments competition's prompt, to “not solve the problem but [create] a debate among people." The project also "aimed to send a message that social housing should not be addressed with idea-less and mass produced design." The subsequent fibre glass debate-causing installation was constructed in seven days with a budget of €250, and featured both a periscope and washing machine entry doors.

The installation took its submarine inspiration from the Isar River, flowing alongside its site in a Munich public park. On the inside, there's room for two small beds and storage, with special attention to artificial lighting that created a warm nighttime interior. 

Although the specific perpetrators of the installation’s unexpected destruction remain unknown, their act ultimately fostered a debate not only about the problems of housing, but the role of hostile anti-immigrant and refugee forces in Europe. Of the competition’s 24 completed designs, including other temporary housing structures throughout Europe, Yellow Submarine was the only unit that did not survive its public run; its absence reverberating throughout the competition, as one less house to call home.

'Yellow Submarine' was submitted to Archinect's open call for November 2016's theme, XS. Check out our open call for December, Faith.