Looking over the Fence: Void is Not Empty

Looking over the Fence: Void is Not Empty is a travelling exhibition presenting nine speculative student projects from the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam investigating urban voids from Amsterdam to Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin and around the world, where collective urban futures are negotiated and reimagined.

Together, the projects aim to address the recurring question of whether Berlin’s housing challenges should be solved by building on Tempelhofer Feld, while placing this debate in a broader spatial, social, and political context. Starting from Amsterdam, where land scarcity, housing pressure, and competing claims on open space shape similar discussions, the projects connect local concerns to wider urban conditions. They examine how urban voids continue to carry cultural and ecological value.

Through maps, models, fictional narratives, and spatial propositions, the projects present different perspectives and approaches. Together, they show urban voids not as empty reserves, but as active spatial conditions shaped by conflict, negotiation, and collective imagination. The exhibition invites architecture students and planners in Amsterdam, Berlin, and beyond to engage with these critical perspectives and to reconsider the value of open public space in relation to contemporary urban futures.

Student Participants: Azado Abdien, Evaline Vink, Jan Olde Loohuis, Jordi Doomen, Juliet Manrho, Laas Sharaf, Lloyd van Pelt, Michael Kleszczewski, Sini Huttunen, Tessa Paulus / Academy of Architecture Amsterdam; Ari Rohde, Lara Göbel, Odysseas Tsompanoglou / Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague

Exhibition Curators: Minnari Lee / Jolene Lee

Exhibition Production: Minnari Lee, Martijn Troost, Azado Abdien, Evaline Vink, Lloyd van Pelt

Graphic Design: Jolene Lee

* The title is inspired by the book Deserts Are Not Empty by Samia Henni.

Plan your visit

Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday, 1-5 pm

Please consult this page prior to your visit for different opening hours.

Entrance fee 2025:

Adults: €5.00
Students: € 2.50
Entrance 0-18 years: € 0.00
Accompanying person of a visitor with a disability: € 0,00
Entrance with I Amsterdam City Card: €0,00

Accessibility:
Arcam is wheelchair accessible. All floors are accessible via our lift and there is an adapted toilet on the ground floor. If required, we also offer assistance, please feel free to contact us at arcam@arcam.nl.

Opening Hours Holiday Season
We are closed on 27 April, 5 May, 24, 25, 26 and 31 December 2025 and 1 January 2026.

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