spreediggers-blog

[spreediggers-blog]

About

In 1649, the first community of Diggers, also called the True Levelers, raises in England in a context of great social unrest. Sometimes seen as the forerunners of the modern anarchism, the Diggers ambition to reform the social order materialized by farming and distributing food issued from common land. Gerrard Winstanley, the natural leader of the group, envisions an ecological interrelationship between humans and nature, acknowledging the inherent connections between people and their surroundings: « True freedom lies where a man receives his nourishment and preservation, and that is in the use of the earth » .

Centuries later in San Francisco in 1968, 12 members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe - a street-theater performative group - reclaims the Diggers name and revives their ideas by performing and living the lifestyle of an alternative society free from private property and any kind of buying and selling exchange. As long as their movement exists, the Diggers provide free food, medical care, temporary housing, transport and cultural events to their ever growing community and beyond, within an urban environment. 

Today in Berlin along the river Spree, the notion of land ownership and gentrification is at stake. Whereas the protests concerning the prospective use of strategical lands once constrained by the presence of the Wall are continuously going on, creative alternative models of ownership and/or communal occupation and cultivation of land sparkle around the river banks. Whether those groups of new Diggers integrate, ignore or reject the current neo-liberal rules in their vision, their simultaneous actions initiate a shift on the traditional property markets and claim the necessity of commonness - beyond publicness. A new popular consciousness of the common value of the land based on uses appears: can the value of a land be calculated on its productive potential - agrarian or community based - dissociated from the newly-traditional productive capital / profit making?

The project Spreediggers investigates and analyses the status of the lands located around the Spree and specifically in the so known Media Spree area by focusing on their uses, the notion of property and their financial models, the negotiations and conflicts, the current developments and the prospective visions. How to enable today the Diggers of tomorrow? How do these examples inform us on the possibility of a future community based urban life?

This platform is one part of an installation in 3 acts produced by the architect and curator Joanne Pouzenc in the frame of the exhibition A SPACE IS A SPACE IS A SPACE an exhibition, lecture and performance program presented by the Bureau des arts plastiques et de l’architecture and the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ.

Curators: Karima Boudou / Céline Poulin / Agnès Violeau Spatial Concept: Jean-Pascal Flavien Artistic direction: Marc Bembekoff (Curator), Matthias Böttger (DAZ), Cathy Larqué (Bureau des arts plastiques, Institut français)

More about the Diggers?

. The English Diggers on Wikipedia. . The San Francisco Diggers on Wikipedia. . The San Francisco Diggers archive. . The San Francisco Diggers documentary by Celine Deransart, Alice Gaillard and Jean-Pierre Ziren. (This movie is also available in french in full version).

Next: What and How to Dig?

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What and How to Dig?

The website offers different possibilities to dig around and discover several layers of information: the map, the articles and the menu. 

To cluster information, the research button in the menu serves as a guide: click on a category to select the content: you can see all pictures or stories at once. Enter a specific address or the name of an operation (strictly specified in the Information marker on the map) to access directly the information related to a specific land. 

The menu offers the possibility to scroll either the current pictures, the stories of the places or the additional information. The interactive map encompasses all the necessary links to orientate your digital travel on this urban exploration. 

  DIGGING ON THE MAP

The EXTRACT MARKER shows the locations of the Digging operations around the land. The extracted earth is exhibited in the installation in the space of the DAZ in Berlin. 

The INFORMATION MARKER features the main informations and the main links relevant to the lands. 

The STAR MARKER shows the beginning and the ending of the exploratory journey. 

The LINE MARKER shows the path and the necessary interruptions or change of directions encounters on the way. 

By digging on the map, you’ll discover the results of the exploration lead both physically and digitally. By clicking on the pictures related to the Extract icons, you’ll be redirected directly to the informations related to that land: the precise articles and the pictures of the current situation of the land. On the Information marker, click on the visible links to discover and/or download the original B-Plans issued from the Senat for Urban development and Environment of Berlin, the architectural offices websites and other related information. 

THE INFORMATION MARKER: SOURCES AND EXPLANATIONS

A B-PLAN or « Bebauungsplan » is the document giving the basic information for the allowance of construction on a land. It gives the future planner the restrictions in terms of possibility of construction: maximal built high allowed, maximal density, limits of constructibility. To find the current active B-Plans of the city of Berlin, explore here. The B-Plans in progress are consultable in person in the related administrations. 

The LOT NUMBER is extracted from the cadaster plan, of which an extract (screen shot) is shown for each ground. The cadaster plan shows the limits of property (lots), the built and covered environment as well as the infrastructures. This information is found on the public website of the department for Urban Development of Berlin and is made available to any citizen upon registration. The extract is deliberately shown without scale or references to invite you to explore the map on your own. 

The OWNERSHIP informations have been precociously dug amongst the press articles, the official documentation issued by the City administration and/or specific websites. 

The USE AND FUTURE USE is based on both exploration on site and multi layered research through the related architectural firms websites and/or press documents. 

The website is a tumblog based on the theme Trip’and’Tell. The digging icon used in the url is Garden Tools by Mike Wirth from the Noun Project. 

The related content present on this website shows the current situation known in September 2015. The informations have been gathered through press articles, official documentation issued by the City of Berlin, department of urban development and/or by the specific district administration, as well as through personal interviews with onsite specialists. As such and even though the informations have been always crossed checked within different information sources, the author doesn’t guarantee the absolute correctness of the datas displayed on the website. All architectural presentations are property of their authors, credited in the core description of each article.

All the exploration pictures are property of the author. To copy, share and/or publish any information from this website, please contact the author at info (at) joannepouzenc (.) com.

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Teepee Land

In one of the few remaining public grounds around the Spree, on the Alt-Mitte Luisenstadt side of the river, a couple of people have installed their homes in July 2012 and settled the community known as Teepee Land or Teepee Village (Dorf). Located on what should become the Spreeufer promenade, the settlement develops on a path voluntarily kept public, constituting the base of the common agreement between the community and the public powers (district and city). Teepee Land is welcoming and any passer by or curious is invited to look and/or stay. A public square in the middle of the Teepee camp host a protected open wooden structure where the community gathers around a fire on a common outside living room. Celebrations are commons in Teepee Land: an open stage situated half way on the public land and half way on the ground of the Eisfabrik hosts events such as music, theater performances and film screenings. The neighboring Eisfabrik has been fenced in 2014 after the eviction of its occupiers. Since then, Teepeeland is bordered by a fence that delimitates clearly their territory: on the one side, the fringed land they are officially allowed to occupy directly at the Spree, on the other side, a vast unused land waiting patiently for its own future. In Teepee Land, the former path linking the former Eisfabrik to the Spree is protected (Denkmalschutz) and necessarily preserved by the inhabitants. The choice of a Teepees structure allow to maintain the quality of the environment and respect the present vegetation as the elements of landscapes. The community counts today 15 members and can host up to 100 couchsurfers per night. One of its founder and the first one to install his home started the adventure on another land located directly at the Spree also known as Berlin's favela: Cuvrybrache. Flieger was the first one in Cuvrybrache to start to use the land. After him, the tent movement grew really fast. The social climate in Cuvrybrache became quickly dangerous and conflictual, mixing populations with different goals and visions. That was not what Flieger, the first and main Teepeelander, envisioned for his community. That was not what he chose to live. One of the specificities of Teepee Land is the motivation of its inhabitants: TeepeeLand is a choice. Not a refuge. Most of Teepeelanders have another home option. Some have families and apartments that they still rent in the city. But living in TeepeeLand and accepting its rules is a choice for a living, constituting therefore another housing model no developer or architect usually consider as valid or even possible and for sure classified under the umbrella of the « informal ». With its international community and its no politics, no religion, no money and no hard drugs and alcohol allowed in the land, TeepeeLand recalls on a smaller scale and without acknowledging it the experience of Auroville in India. As well with the alternative - almost performative - way of life and the giving/getting everything for free as the utilization of every available square meter of ground for food culture to reach self sustainability, Teepee Landers could be considered as the contemporary Diggers. Nowadays, TeepeeLanders have founded an association and reclaim TeepeeLand as a cultural project, beyond the community. Whereas construction and improvement projects are taking place - with the realization of the future winter kitchen for example - negotiations with the city are currently ongoing regarding the possibility of an official use of the land in the future. The story doesn’t tell yet for how long they can stay, experiment and share their way of life. 

Digging in the press (in german)

14.06.2012 - Tagesspiegel:  Zeltstadt statt Guggenheim 09.08.2013 - Berliner kurier: Die Zeltstadt der Spree-Indianer

18.08.2014 - bz-online: Hippie Commune - Die Großstadt-Indianer von der Schillingbrücke

01.09.2014 - Die Baumeister: Die Indianer von der Spree

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Eisfabrik

In 1995, the company TLG Immobilien GmbH bought the Eisfabrik Land from the Berliner Kühlhaus GmbH, who was until then running the Eisfabrik company until 1991. In 2008, part of the land is sold to the company Telamon GmbH with whom TLG shares now the property. On the one side on the lot n° 717-09020 is a free land, on which an unoccupied building is standing on the street side on Köpenicker Strasse 40-41 and on the lot n°717-09021 the former factory building accessible through this first named property. Telamon GmbH is also the owner of the land on the other side of the Spree, on which Radialsystem V is nowadays located. 

Nowadays protected under Denkmalschutz, the building of the Eisfabrik that time progressively transformed into urban ruin is one of the main targeted area for investors due to its spectacular architecture and the potential that represents the still empty land surrounding it. 

In 2010, against the opposition of local initiatives and associations together with the Greens of Berlin-Kreuzberg / Friedrichshain and Berlin-Mitte, the chairman of the Committee on Cultural Affairs in the Berlin House of Representatives, Alice Stöver, but also nationwide organizations such as the Federal Foundation for Building Culture, the Confederation of German architects, and members of the Bundestag from the SPD and CDU, the parliamentary group of the Greens and the Deputy President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse, TLG Immobilien GmbH started in May 2010 the demolition of part of the building thus the destruction of the monument ensemble. In November 2010, the demolition was completed. The Eisfabrik Initiative lists since then the different actions and news undertaken by all actors involved in the current developments of the area.

The rooftop of the Eisfabrik has been for a long time used by the party Berliners to grab a drink with a view, looking directly at the Spree. But for some others, the Eisfabrik was as well a refuge and hosted, until the decision of expulsion was taken in December 2013, some 50 permanent inhabitants living between the walls of the former factory. Despite the several allegations from the City to the owner to secure and close the buildings for security reasons, the final decision is given on the 23rd of December 2013: the decision lists the measures that have to be undertaken to secure the area: closing of the entrances and windows by permanent solutions (concrete blocks) up to 5m. One year later, in December 2014, TLG asks the city for the investment on a fence that would separate physically and isolate the territory occupied by the Teepeelanders. The fence is today surrounding the full area and no more access nor use is possible on Eisfrabrik lands.

According the the Eisfabrik Initiative, on the 11th of may 2014, 4 offers from buyers and developers for the lands and buildings on the Köpenicker Strasse 40-41 have been given, considering the ensemble as a possiblity for a mixed use encompassing living, working and cultural uses. In the Eisfabrik itself, the development of a cultural project - yet not known - is to be expected.

Digging in the press (in german)

07.11.2008 - Morgenpost: TLG verkauft Eisfabrik am Spreeufer

10.05.2010 - Morgenpost: Bolles Eisfabrik-Ensemble in Mitte ist bedroht

20.09.2013 - Berliner Zeitung: Armutsflüchtlinge in Berlin: Verloren in bester Lage

29.09.2013 - Taz: Letzte Nischen, heiß umkämpft

04.04.2014 - Tagesspiegel: Kunst und Wohnen in der Eisfabrik

Documents and Links:

23.12.2013 - City statement regarding the eviction and the protection of the building 

Berlin Eisfabrik initiative, gathering all events and decisions regarding the Eisfabrik and its territory.

Description of the elements listed and protected (Denkmalschutz beschreibung)

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Spreefeld

The land in which the Spreefeld is today implemented has been sold to the Cooperative Spreefeld in 2010 after a 2 years long sale process by the Bundesanstalt for Immobilienaufgabe (Federal Agency for Property Assignments), a public enterprise under the right an surveillance of the German Finance Ministry. The land was until then used by the Kiki Blofeld - as In between use (Zwischennutzung) - which was forced to move out as well as its neighboring club the Kater Holzig (see Holzmarkt + Eckwerk). When the sale process started, the public policy regarding the cession of land was operated according to the principle of the highest bidder, not depending on the concept or future use of the zone. Despite those rules, the Spreefeld Cooperative managed to acquire the land and developed a unique financing model on 2 different levels: on the one hand regarding the buying and building costs, assumed by the community as a whole and on the other hand, the reduction of costs for the future renters as individual by subsidies and access to lower interest rates and « social » banking. 

The initiative has been carried on by a group of 16 individuals amongst who the architect Christian Schöningh - initiator, developer and executor. He understood early as current user of the neighborhood the potential and challenges that this specific space represents for the city and managed to match political and personal ambitions: implementing cooperative housing and open - though private/cooperative - spaces at the river Spree contributes in enhancing a quality of lifestyle and produces a global reflexion by transforming alternatives into reality. As well, the model of the Spreefeld brings the now traditional «Baugruppe» model one step further: the conditions of access to the community orientates strictly towards a non-for-profit investment: the members of the community pay an entry fee to get a share of the community. This entry fee represents a small amount of money (from 1000 euros) compared to what would have to been paid to own a house. Further, the communers pay a rent to ensure the feasibility of the operation and the pay back of the debts to the financial actors. Once the total reimbursement of credits would be assumed, the question of maintaining a rent for maintenance or improvement of the structure will be discussed with every member. By leaving, the members of the community would get back the amount of money they invested at first and would be replaced by the entry fee of the new comer. As such, the limited company who originally bought the land transferred to a Construction and Housing Cooperative (B-WG) in 2012. 

The architectural project has been developed by the Zusammenarbeiter for the development and program and by the association of Carpaneto+Schöningh, fatkoehl Architects and  Bar Architects for its architectural form. The Spreefeld is constituted of 3 building blocks hosting 60 housing units different in sizes and typologies (including « Community Homes » of 600-800 m2) and 1000 m2 of « Option spaces » occupied or rented to creative users / entrepreneurs and/or used by the community as extra spaces. On the land, one can also find the Boat house situated directly at the river Spree supports today cultural public events. And last but not least, the main part of the compound are the open spaces and the beach directly at the Spree constituting more than 40% of the superficie of the ground and everyday used by campers, enjoyers and passers by without apparently creating interferences with the community.

Source ©Carpaneto+Schoeningh

Source ©Fatkoehl Architekten

Digging in the press (in german)

22.06.11 - Taz: Mieter mit Spreeblick 05.09.2011 - Berliner Zeitung: Die Party an der Spree geht 03.03.2015 - Tagesspiegel: Am alten Kater Holzig wird gewohnt - und gefeiert  2014 - Bauwelt: Spreefeld. (Interview of the architects, Full article in pdf.) Digging in the press (in english)

16.09.2011 - Exberliner: Spreefeld: Third Way on the Spree? 18.11.2014 - Vivero Iniciativas Ciudadanas: Citizen urbanism: economical scapes Downloads

. Satzung  der Bau- und Wohngenossenschaft Spreefeld Berlin eG (June 2015) . Ecke Köpenicker n°4 - June 2014 . Formal and informal planning strategies encouraging private developers to realize inclusive, mixed-use housing projects: Urban renewal in Berlin’s post-industrial waterfront Spree area. / Master Thesis 2013 (TU Berlin - Urban Management) Maria del Pilar Ospina, supervisor: Dr. Michael Lafond (in english) . Feasibility Study for the Spreeuferpromenade (p 27-30, details on the current B-Plan I-32aa and I-32ab)

Interview from Dr. Michael Lafond on the Spreefeld project and cooperative (in german)

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Holzmarkt + Eckwerk

In 2012, the Kater Holzig had to move from its location situated on the Alt-Mitte river banks of the Spree to let the building it occupied for the development of luxury housing. Its destination would recall some memories as the Kater Holzig moved back to its origin: on the other side of the river where the adventure of the club - then known as Bar 25 - once started.

The now called Kater Blau moved directly on the then City owned land. But the owners of the Kater Blau, amongst who Juval Dieziger, have other ambitions: to develop a global sustainable urban village on the 18000 m2 peace of land. At that time, the City project to balance public debts is to sell the land to the highest bidder: the Media Spree development proposes to investors the possibility of building high-rises at the Spree. The popular movement against Media Spree in 2008 brought 87% of the population to stand on the side of the Kater Blau initiators and despite the fact the the Referendum had no legal power, the City administration as well as all the political parties stated in favor of the future Holzmarkt. The concept of the Holzmarkt imagined with the expertise of the entrepreneur Mario Husten is extremely ambitious and proposes a variety of uses as well of a variety of users: the future inhabitants of the Holzmarkt come from different social background, are families, entrepreneurs, elderly, and they all can contribute through their skill and time to transform the Holzmarkt in a fully functional village. The program proposes also solutions to balance the possible unbalance between the different users and therefore proposes subsidized rents as well as facilities accessible to different targeted social groups. The village would work as a cooperative where every individual investor would have one vote in the community, regardless of the amount of money invested. This money would then returned to the user who would once want to leave the community. Nevertheless and despite a very successful fundraising campaign, the land still has to be sold and built. In the beginning of 2013, there are still 2,5 millions euros missing: the Holzmarkt initiators called the Stiftung Abendrot, a swiss pension fund, and convinced them to buy the land and establish a long term leasehold of 75 years to the benefit of the Holzmarkt plus eG. 

The land can then be bought back by the Holzmarkt plug eG at at predetermined fixed price: Eva Zumbrunn and Hans Ulrich Stauffer, co-founders of the Stiftung Abendrot, both are extremely satisfied to have succeeded in definitely dragging out the land from the market.

The land is naturally divided into 2 different parts by the aerial tracks of Berlin Subway system. On the urban side, the project Eckwerk developed by both emblematic Berlin architecture firms Kleihues+Kleihues and Graft Architects would be directed towards offices use. Within the buildings linked by floating pathways, small start ups as already established companies would gather, meet and work together. Whereas on the river side, the Holzmarkt project is developed by the architecture cooperative agency Hütten&Paläste.

The construction site of the Holzmarkt started in Mai 2013. The construction concerns only the infrastructures of the future village, as a collective model of Le Corbusier’s Domino House. The complete project will be realized by and with the inhabitants whose constructions proposals will need to match both needs and concept. Amongst the specificities of the mixed use project, the Holzmarkt village will host a restaurant serving both gastronomy and fast food, a 24 hours Kindergarden, an hotel where pricey and cheap rooms would co-habit, urban gardening, and naturally, the Kater Blau.

Eckwerk ©Kleihues + Graft / Holzmarkt

Holzmarkt ©Hütten&Paläste, Carpaneto+Schöningh, Urban Affairs Source: Baunetz

Digging in the press (in german)

17.10.2012 - Berliner Zeitung: Zurück zum anderen Ufer 29.01.2013 - Tagesspiegel: Holzmarkt-Projekt vor dem Aus 08.02.2014 - Taz: Basler Wertekanon an der Spree 02.04.2014 - Baunetz: Spielplatz für Erwachsene: Baubeginn für Berliner Holzmarkt-Projekt 28.04.2014 - Baunetz: Fische auf dem Dach: Kleihues + Kleihues bauen mit Graft am Berliner Spreeufer 25.04.2014 - Tagesspiegel: Räume schaffen, wo sie niemand erwartet 01.09.2014 - der Spiegel: So mögen wir es in Berlin 04.11.2014 - Tagesspiegel: Insolvenz: Aus die Maus für Kater Holzig

Websites

. Holzmarkt . Stiftung Abendrot . Genossenschaft für Urbane Kreativität . KaterBlau

Downloads

. Holzmarkt brochure

Presentation of the Project by Juval Dietziger and Mario Husten at the Lift Conference in 2014

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Zapf Umzüge

The Zapf Umzüge land is located on a 18000 m2 ground at the corner of the Köpenicker Straße and the Broomystraße - where the future pedestrian only Broomy bridge will link both sides of the river Spree at the level of the Living Levels building.

The Zapf company activity is still on going and the yellow containers that punctuate the ground announce directly the use to the passers by. A giant bronze statue of Lenin marks the entrance of the large industrial hall hosting the activities of the company. The building occupies a big part of the land and presents no opening to the river Spree of which neither the employees nor the public have any access.

Whereas the B-Plan is still in progress, the company, owner of the land, has started a development plan with the architectural firm Faber+Faber for which they envision the construction of 300 housing units, all directed to the Spree. The high of the buildings wouldn’t exceed the 22 m high (classical high observed in Berlin) and the open spaces wouldn’t be fenced. Furthermore, a public promenade of around 16 meters wide at the Spree would be envisioned. The rent prices of the housing units wouldn’t exceed 11 euros/m2. Illustration ©Faber+Faber

Despite the openness of the plan and the apparent respect of both the developer views and the people’s plan, a controversial alternative project has been developed by The Space between People, an independent architectural consultancy office. 

Their plan proposes to enlarge the public realm to 50 m, to clarify a public access from the Köpenicker Straße to the newly created public park and to initiate a collaborative design process with the future inhabitants. According to the authors, the costs for the inhabitants should cover only the costs of the construction and not the costs of the ground: they propose to sell the land to a foundation that would then establish a long term lease with the future users (similarly to the current leasing development plan of the ground of the Holzmarkt, made possible through the buying of the land by the swiss foundation Abendrot). 

Plan ©theSpaceBetweenPeople

There is nevertheless one remaining question from these - not so different - approaches: As a long term lease contract remains profitable for the investor - private or public - why wouldn’t the private sector and in this case the Zapf firm itself lease the ground they own, without the need of any intermediary?

Digging in the press (in german)

08.11.2013 - Morgenpost: Traditionsunternehmen Zapf Umzüge macht Platz für Neubauten 03.02.2014 - bz Berlin: In Kreuzberg werden die Bauherren erpresst 20.06.2014 - Tagesspiegel - Berlin bekommt eine Hipster-Promenade 21.08.2014 - Süddeutsche - Zum Tod von Klaus Zapf

Downloads (in english):

The plans of the project from TheSpaceBetweenPeople The brief from the project.

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ExYaam

After 10 years of presence on site, the land of the ExYaam on the Stralauer Platz 35 is now almost empty. Standing on the white reminiscent sand, a part of the original Berlin wall - naturally classified and to be conserved and integrated in any further project - separates the domain into 2, a street side and a river side.  The spanish real estate firm Urnova sold the 8900 m2 land to Juwi 3 Immobilien GmbH in 2013. Within the deal, a building permission approved by the city administration was valid until the spring 2014. Time passing by, the obsolescence of the last permission lead the new owner to open an architectural competition for the development of the land and the construction of a residential block of 310 apartments and a hotel complex of 300 rooms. The first price has been given to the firm Winking Froh who proposed 2 building blocks, one 8 floors high longitudinal block parallel to the street dedicated to the hotel use and a squared 12 floors high block with patio at the Spree hosting the housing units and supposedly integrating the portion of the wall (absent from the architect visualization). The renting price of the housing units should be included between 9 and 13 euros per square meter, being thought therefore neither as a luxury building, nor as a social one. According to the developer, “We can’t finance social housing as we’ve had to pay so much to buy the land”. 

In June 2015, the borrow Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain received a motivated demand from the Pirates (political party) to refuse the new planning due to the non respect of several urban conditions defended by the project Spreeufer for All and the 2008 referendum. Whereas the B-Plan fixing the conditions for building is in progress, the project tends to approach the limits of the urban planning allowance and therefore overcomes the acceptable limits defined by the referendum. the building high overcomes the generally observed / acceptable high, the housing block is only 10 meters from the Spree, the density ratio is 4,3 instead of a maximum of 3,8 and the total planned built surface is 38500 m2 whereas the former permission was based on a 31000 m2 project and constitutes therefore a step backwards in direction of profit instead of people according to the author of the request (nota: the competition brief announces a project of “minimum” 36000 m2 built).

The land is currently under surveillance and giants columns of designated cameras watch the lightly fenced ground. During the onsite exploration the ground keeper told about the future project and the possibility of building 300 new appartements: “between what you can read in the press and what finally occurs, one never knows where the truth really is.” 

Whereas in the press, one can read that the architects are currently working on the building permission, on the blog from Carsten Joost, very active actor and defender of the Spreeufer for All, one can learn the process is stopped.

All illustrations ©Winking-Froh

Digging in the press (in german)

21.09.2012 - Morgenpost: Berliner Grüne wollen den "Yaam"Klub retten 11.07.2013 - Morgenpost: Auf dem Yaam-Grundstück sollen nun Wohnungen entstehen 11.12.2013 - Morgenpost: Der Klub Yaam kann an die Schillingbrücke ziehen 10.04.2015 - Tagesspiegel: An der East Side Gallery wird geklotzt 

Additional websites:

Website of Keller-Elles, the competition organizer for the land. Info page of Carsten Joost, Spreeufer for All, people’s deputy for the Pirate party. 

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Yaam

After having played the musical chairs around the Spree, the Yaam - cultural project hosting a beach club, a club, a cultural market place and sport facilities - settles for the third time in the past 20 years directly at the river on Stralauer Platz 29-31, a couple of meters from its previous location, on one of the few lands still belonging to the public authorities. 

According to the Liegenschafstfonds expose from 2009, the present building on site known as the former Maria am Ostbahnhof club was destined to be demolished. The Liegenschaftsfonds (the real estate manager for public grounds) also points on the status of contamination of the ground due to the former use of gas and oil in the vicinity and transfers the decontamination duty to the future owner. The possibilities of development for the 8500 m2 ground estimates then a 21500 m2 that should have been developed for housing and hotel use. 

The document from 2009 clearly identifies the sale strategy: the land would belong to the “highest bidder”, not regarding to the concept or use.

After having been managed for years by the Liegenschaftsfonds in charge of the sale of the domain, the land has been given back to the borrow Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain in 2012 who proposed it to the Yaam as an alternative to their previous location, soon to be developed.

Whereas the B-Plan 2-21 (in progress) includes in its surface the building located at the street, used in the heydays by the Gasag company administration, the initial land proposed by the Liegenschaftsfonds exclude that building. In parallel, a development project for the former administration is ongoing and a construction permission has been given in 2010 to the Kilian group (project architect: Müller + Reimann) for the construction of a 210 rooms 4 stars hotel.

The future of the compound is yet unknown: the decontamination of the land is still to be achieved, the Gasag building needs refurbishment and the occupation of the land by the Yaam is only temporary. 

Städtische Gasanstalt Stralauer Platz um 1900, vom Westufer der Spree aus gesehen / Hilmar Bärthel: Die Geschichte der Gasversorgung in Berlin. GASAG (Hrsg.), Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1997

Digging in the press (in german)

11.12.2013 - Morgenpost: Der Klub Yaam kann an die Schillingbrücke ziehen

More information

Mediaspree Versenken, the explanatory and prospective brochure of the opposers of the Media Spree initiative that served as a base for the 2008 referendum.

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In between - Holzmarkt Straße - Photos - Sept 2015

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Conclusions

By digging on Spreediggers, one can discover the diversity of the models studied and the variations of the grounds development status. Whereas on the one hand, one can underline the tendencies of certain developments towards new non-speculative financial models for land ownership and use - particularly strong in the conception and realization of Spreefeld and Holzmarkt examples - on the other hand, more traditional developments based on profit making continue their pathway raising systematically popular protesting voices. 

Since 2008 referendum and apart from examples negotiated beforehand as with Living Levels, urban developments have mostly adapted their proposal to the popular demand. The main popular claims point on the necessity to create and conserve an as large as possible public path in direct vicinity to the Spree. Furthermore, it urges the developers to propose programs that would be directed towards neighborhoods and communities present onsite to guarantee a future continuous urban character of the area, where the land would be active day and night and enriched by the variety of proposed uses. Through this research, the question of public land and public use was at the core of the project. As well, the role and power of the City to curate and plan urban areas has been questioned in order to understand the conflicting interests and their legitimacy. 

  In the area of studies, only few lands remain public. Every single public land is at the time of the study used by cultural and/or community projects on an "in-between uses" contract base. Several times in the last twenty five years, cultural projects based on common lands have had to move to allow the sale of the said land. Nevertheless, as the example of the Yaam or the Bar Twenty Five / Kater Holzig / Kater Blau illustrates, the City have found alternative ways to re-host the projects in other public lands in the direct vicinity of their previous location. The fact that their presence in a given location is time limited as the fact that the opportunity of public land is reduced with the last sales determinate future possible conflicts: as the cultural projects are being heavily used by Berliners at large, they undertake their protection in popular movement. But the efforts taken by the public administration clearly demonstrates their common will to guarantee urban continuity in conformity with popular demand. The battle of the population for or against a project development is often based on an emotional reaction resulting from the attachment of people to a place. Therefore, the answers to the question of time allocated to in-between uses - « how long is good enough ? » - are subjective. Despite the efforts, future conflicts seems to be difficult to avoid. 

  As well, the evolution of the process of land sale: from the highest bidder policy to the better concept one shows clearly an innovative approach of urban planning. The area of the Spree and the new models of development emerging from the ground constitute a unique expertise to inspire and export. 

The city orientation towards new models for urban development will be in a close future reinforced with the next decisions taken concerning the lands still in question: one can think of the areas of Behala, Zapf, the former Yaam, the Eisfabrik area and the Teepeelanders territory.

[spreediggers-blog]

Cuvrybrache

The Cuvrybrache (Cuvry Wasteland) has for a long time hosted temporary uses. First land of the Yaam, the cultural african project, between 1996 and 1998, the land has been the home of refugees and campers several times in the past 25 years. 

The wasteland inhabited.

In 2012, the project of the BMW-Guggenheim Lab negotiated to land for its second exploratory episode after New York and before Mumbai on the wasteland of the Cuvrystraße. The protests anti-gentrification have been so strong that the BMW-Guggenheim Lab finally installed its summer camp in the courtyard of the Aedes Center in Schönhauser Allee.

Since Mai 2013, the land belong to Artur Süsskind whose goal is to develop with the architecture firm Langhof a residential complex, the Cuvryhöfe. Previously, several projects have been proposed on the land, all subjects to active popular protests: from a shopping mall to an office and hotel complex, none of the durable project have emerged from the wasteland.

In 2014, the street artist Blu who had transformed the blind walls on one of the most famous landmark in Berlin called his friends to recover his painting in black as an anti-gentrification gesture. 

Digging in the press (in german)

23.08.2014 - Morgenpost: Cuvry-Brache in Kreuzberg könnte bald geräumt werden 2014 - Kreuzhainer: Die unendliche Geschichte der Cuvrybrache 05.09.2014 - Der Spiegel: Besetzte Fläche in Berlin: Cuvry-Brache droht die Räumung 12.12.2014 - Tagesspiegel: Kreuzberg trägt schwarz: Kult-Graffiti übermalt

Digging in the press (in english)

19.12.2014 - the Guardian: Why we painted over Berlin’s most famous graffiti

Downloads

. Eviction letter from Nieto GmbH (owner in 2012) . Actual project brochure from Langhof Architects

The public presentation of the Cuvryhöfe project turns into a recorded protest.

[spreediggers-blog]

Living Levels

Living Levels is the new 65 high tower of luxurious residential units that stands on “the other side” of the wall, in the middle of the future East Side Park. Its construction - still ongoing - has been the occasion of many protests due to its exclusive use and its specific location, cutting a public park into 2 separate entities as well as removing portion of the wall for the access to the construction site and future property. 

The last competition document regarding the future landscape architecture of the East Side Park features the previous visions for the land, originally issued in 1992 through the competition for the "Hauptbahnhof” that proposed to center the uses around the settlement of the main city train station (in place of the now Ostbahnhof). A second urban plan from 2001, the Leitbild Spreeraum, integrates the O2 world (newly bought by the Mercedez-Benz company) and the surrounding buildings and cancel the proposal of building directly at the Spree except for this specific plot.

A tower at the Spree was planned from 1992 and its late realization seems to be the consequence of an early negotiation and transaction. Nevertheless, the original plan imagined the tower as a mixed use building hosting hotels, offices, sport and leisure facilities. A bridge linking both sides of the river departing from the Brommystraße and built up on the ruins of a past infrastructure would/should restore the coherence of the project.

Today, the construction site blocks the public path, that should be restored according to the initial agreement: a path of 8 meters wide shall be given back to public use. But berliners might have to wait for the Brommy bridge to be built (its definition is still on its way) to enjoy a continuous public path surrounding a luxurious lifestyle.

The living levels tower has been imagined by the architecture studio nps tchoban voss.

before the construction started, the land was used as beach club.

view today. (nota: the neighbor land is still dissociated from the public path and shall be soon developed).

Digging in the press (in german)

18.12.2012 - Baunetz: Pläne für Wohnhochhaus am Spreeufer in Berlin 27.08.2012 - Berliner Zeitung: Bezirk will 18-Geschosser an der Media Spree verhindern 31.10.2012 - Berliner Zeitung: East-Side-Tower wird nicht gebaut 25.03.2015 - Tagesspiegel: Mauerlücke bleibt noch fünf Jahre Forum on the East Side Tower

Digging in the press (in english)

01.03.2013 - the Guardian: Berlin Wall protests stall East Side Gallery demolition work 17.03.2013 - the Guardian: David Hasselhoff returns to Berlin to save the wall he helped to topple

[spreediggers-blog]

Behala

The land situated in Köpenicker Straße 20a-29 has been sold in 2011 by the Behala company to the Stuttgart investor Hans Georg Schimmang. Its actual value is estimated for 62 millions euros. The land, today used as a compound of industrial (recycle hub) and services hosts the Viktoriaspeicher, a giant industrial building protected and classified. The owner tends to develop a multi use project: residential buildings up to 6 and 8 floors hosting between 500 and 580 housing units (for which the rent price should be around 15€/m2) - all oriented to the Spree - a kindergarden for 100 children, and possibly a markthalle in the protected building and a new hotel or health facility at the corner. The project has been given to the architects Gewers and Pudewill. 

30 meters wide at the river bank, the land would be given for public use for the realization of the Spreeüfer promenade. Despite the common wish of the owner and the city to give part of the land to the public realm, the project is still highly controversial due to its future private - and probably fenced - use. In an article for the Berliner Zeitung (31.01.2014), the investor states:  “I proposed to the city 6400 m2 of the land at disposal for the river banks promenade, what more does the city want?”.

Digging in the press! (in german)

17.07.2014 - Tagesspiegel: the Behala land is still for sale! 27.01.2014 - Tagespiegel: Von der Spree unter die Traufe 16.06.2014 - Tagesspiegel: Am Viktoriaspeicher bleibt der Investor im Baufeld am Ball 31.01.2014 - Berliner Zeitung: Ein Stuttgarter stößt an Grenzen

[spreediggers-blog]

Living Levels - Mühlenstraße 60 - Photos - Sept 2015

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ExYaam - Stralauer Platz 35 - Photos - Sept 2015

[spreediggers-blog]

East Side Park - Mühlenstraße - Photos - Sept 2015