Commercial spaces and studios

36 commercial units full of craft, art, therapy and culture: the businesses and studios of the Forum.

The Forum was never only a place to live. Joineries, studios, therapy practices, an acting school, a theatre and social projects work in the ground floors, back courtyards and factory storeys, 36 commercial units on around 3,337 square metres in all. Space is let by fit, not to the highest bidder: the working group for commercial space decides on allocation together with the Förderverein.

This mixture is no accident, it grew over fifty years. Craft businesses that have been in the house since the seventies, artists who have worked here for decades and young agencies share the same courtyards. If you are looking for space, current offers are listed under Freie Gewerbeflächen.

A spectrum, not a selection

Walk through the courtyards and you hear machines, see studio doors standing open and pass the entrance of a theatre. Craft sits next to design, stage next to therapy practice, small manufacture next to office. This mixture was never planned, it came about over fifty years because the question was always who fits here, and not what brings in the most rent.

Some have worked in the house since the seventies, others moved in two years ago. Some employ a dozen people, others work alone. What connects them is less the trade than a willingness to be part of a place where you meet in the courtyard and notice your neighbours.

For the Forum this is not a side matter. The income from the commercial space and the ground rent from the residential space pay for the cultural and social projects of the Förderverein. And the fact that people work here during the day is what makes the difference between a block of flats and what is fondly called a village in the city.

From time to time the courtyards open to everyone: at the art festival ÜbereckArt the artists of the house show what they are working on.