Showcase A SPACE

What is urban life? It is a type of quality of living that arises from the exclu­sive expe­rience of cities – the multi­faceted­ness, the density, and the dyna­mics of possibilities, life designs, stories and histories. Where could this expe­rience be more power­fully present than in the heart of Berlin, where the great dividing lines of history meet with the intricate fabric of neigh­bour­hoods and their artistic and cultural life? An emble­matic example of this is Arkona­höfe: established as a brewery, the site has served in its history as a sewing factory, a cinema and rehear­sal space for East Germany’s TV ballet company directly adja­cent to the Wall and its deadly peri­meter; later it was a hangout for punk bands and the dissidents of the Protest­ant opposi­tion move­ment; finally it became a home to inde­pen­dent labels, creative design offices, and co-­working spaces spaces in the up-and-­coming centre of the new capital. This place encap­sulates history and fosters new ideas for living and working that can thrive only in the open design of one-hundred-year-old indus­trial archi­tec­ture.

An aura of trans­formation, transparence, and experiment is woven into this archi­tectural icon of history with its high windows and Berlin-­style arched ceilings. From this we drew our inspiration as we became part of the next meta­mor­pho­sis of this unique site. We developed the brand design and the commu­nica­tion strategy, after coming up with the idea and, most import­antly, the naming – a nod to the place’s urban open­ness: A SPACE. A for Arkona­platz, for alter­na­tive and anti­thesis, but also A as in Class A, the highest rating for quality of living and architectural design. And finally A as the Alpha, the beginning of new living in a town in which the only thing that persists is constant change.