The new hub is located at Atelier Gardens’ social impact campus just south of Berlin’s Templehof field. Atelier Gardens is a 2.4ha campus on the site of the historic film studios Berliner Union Film Ateliers (BUFA) and is still an active site for film and television production with filmmaking users including Netflix, YouTube and ITV Studios.
The site, which has been the home of German cinema for over 100 years, comprises five historic film studios and a variety of other buildings and public spaces built over time.
The site’s historic function is being retained and celebrated with its film-making elements consolidated within one part. The remaining buildings – including TON 1 and HAUS 1 – are being repurposed into a flexible mix of work and event spaces with nature reintroduced throughout.
Over the last five years, investor and developer Fabrix has developed the site to create space for social and regenerative entrepreneurship, including HAUS 1, the repurposing of an underused 1990s office building on the site.
HAUS 1 has been designed as a welcome hub for visitors to the campus with 1,750m² of adaptable space including three floors of offices, concierge service and a café. As part of the project, MVRDV has created a new ‘stairscape’ with a striking 57m-long yellow external stair that offers views over Templehof and leads to a CLT rooftop pavilion and terrace.
The larger masterplan for the site, led by MVRDV, local architecture practice Hirschmüller Schindele Architekten and British landscape designer Harris Bugg Studio, aims to create new uses for the mix of buildings on the film studio compound. In addition, the landscape on the prior industrial site is being restored through regreening and a circular water strategy.
HAUS 1 is the latest structure to be repurposed on the campus and provides a landmark for the next stages of transformation.
Source:Schnepp Renou
HAUS 1
Material finishes include biobased materials, timber for the new pavilion, cladding and internal flooring and materials with high recycled content.
The campus is home to the Berlin Metfilm School as well as other tenants including tiny farms, Arts of the Working Class and Roots Radicals.
In September last year, MVRDV completed TON 1 at Atelier Gardens, a flexible event space as part of the overall masterplan.
Source:Yasutaka Kojima
TON 1
Architect’s view
The newly transformed HAUS 1 is more than a gateway to this unique campus devoted to impact, it is a representation of the Atelier Gardens community and their commitment to chart a different vision of society – one that’s optimistic, yet radical and innovative. With this second project in our masterplan, we join them on this mission and invite more people to follow.
Jacob van Rijs, founding partner, MVRDV
Source:MVRDV
Clients’ views
Atelier Gardens is a model for bringing purpose in line with future-proofed profit. In just a few years, we have broadened use of the campus from film and media to a diverse community of progressive impact organisations. This shift has diversified the income profile, giving the campus permanent life, in contrast to the coming-and-going of film productions and technological risk.
Means-tested rent allows high-quality space to be provided more cheaply to start-ups, activist groups and NGOs, while established companies that want to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of co-locating are charged more. It’s a resilient model which we believe sets a new standard for the future of mixed-use campuses.
Clive Nichol, managing partner, Fabrix
Atelier Gardens is a vibrant events and workspace campus for creative impact occupiers that uniquely reflects the values of, and brings together, our diverse occupier community and events clients. It places sustainability and impact at the heart of everything that takes place here with the intention to be an exemplar in transformation of spaces and regeneration, from the soil to the nature it supports, enabling people and wildlife to thrive. We will continue to share the sustainability learnings from the initiatives taking place at Atelier Gardens, and advance an equitable transition to a sustainable society.
Helen Newman, director of sustainable investing, Fabrix
Source:MVRDV
Project data
Start on site Not supplied
Completion date November 2023
Gross internal floor area 1,747m²
Gross (internal + external) floor area 2575m²
Architect MVRDV
Executive architect HS-Architekten
Client Fabrix
Structural engineer Drees & Sommer SE (structural and façade engineering)
M&E consultant Buro Happold
Project coordination Drees & Sommer
Fire protection Brandschutz Plus+ Eberl-Pacan Brandschutzplaner
Building physics Ingenieurbüro Axel C. Rahn
Waste water HATI Gesellschaft für Handwerk Technik und Innovation
Ground surveyor MKP
Lighting advisor Deltalight
Metal construction Metallbau Weinmann
Carpentry and roofing Zimmerei & Dachdeckerei Quappe
Landscape consultant Harris Bugg Studio
Main contractor KPM3
Environmental performance data
Upfront embodied carbon 165 kgCO2eq/m² per year