Factory Berlin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Factory Berlin
Factory Berlin, east facade

Factory Berlin, east facade

Data
place Berlin
builder unknown (19th century)
Julian Breinersdorfer (21st century)
Construction year 1869
Total renovation 2012–2014
Floor space 10,000 m²
Coordinates 52 ° 32 '12 .5 "  N , 13 ° 23' 41.5"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 32  '12.5 " N , 13 ° 23' 41.5"  E

Factory Berlin is an office campus on the site of the former Oswald Berlin brewery in Berlin district of Mitte . He was around the historic complex, a wheat beer - brewery developed from the 19th century. The design comes from the Berlin architect Julian Breinersdorfer, a student of Zaha Hadid . After being vacant for a long time, the buildings were completely renovated in the 21st century and reopened under a new name. Well-known start-up companies such as 6Wunderkinder, Soundcloud , Twitter , Uber and Zendesk as well as corporations such as Siemens , Deutsche Bank and Audi have moved here. These companies cooperate as incubators for other, smaller start-ups. The offer includes workplaces, networks, advice and other support on the Factory Campus. Factory calls this model organic acceleration . Factory Berlin is part of the Berlin Wall cultural monument .

History of buildings

The (first) Oswald Berliner wheat beer brewery was opened around 1869 by the Jewish entrepreneur Oswald Berliner from Breslau at Brunnenstrasse 112-114; he himself lived in the neighboring house at Brunnenstrasse 111.

The buildings are an example of Berlin brick expressionism and one of the first reinforced concrete structures in the city. The addition of the name Erste indicates that the first wheat beer in Berlin was probably brewed in this facility.

In the beginning , steam engines were used to generate heat, possibly also to drive generators . An enamel sign found on the Internet shows the brewery's logo.

Advertisement for the Oswald Berliner brewery

In 1896 the brewer advertised at the Berlin trade fair with the sign shown here. The brewery owner died in 1900 and was on the Jewish cemetery in Weissensee buried .

At the beginning of the 1940s, Schlesische Malzfabrik AG owned the brewery ensemble. A manager lived in house number 140 and it housed an inn.

Brunnenstrasse runs in a south-east-northwest direction from Rosenthaler Platz to Gesundbrunnen , where it continues as Badstrasse. The brewery site was just before the intersection with Bernauer Strasse and at the time of Berlin's division (1949–1989) was in the border strip on which the wall was erected in 1961 .

The cellar vaults were used as air raid shelters during the Second World War . These were blown up by the Soviet troops in April 1946 , what remained was damaged factory premises. After the demolition of nearby houses as a result of the construction of the wall on Bernauer Strasse, the GDR had the existing or created cavities filled with the demolition material. Above all, this was intended to prevent the wall strip from being undermined at this point, as two tunnels under Bernauer Strasse had already been successfully dug and used for escape ( tunnel 29 and tunnel 57 ). The damaged factory buildings remained standing, but were not used.

After the wall was torn down , its structural remains and locations were combined to form the Berlin Wall Memorial . The brewery cellar vaults under the property have been preserved and are part of the ensemble of the memorial. In the 1990s, some small businesses moved into the premises. But the Berlin Senate soon had the building properly repaired, improved its stability and placed it under monument protection. During this work, many historical elements were removed or covered.

In order to achieve a more effective use, a listed building was carried out. Additional floors were added, which should be clearly differentiated from the historical components. During the three-year construction work (2011–2014), the historical facades were exposed and refreshed. As a result, the building ensemble was given the new name Factory Berlin , founded by Udo Schloemer, and thus reminds of the beginnings of buildings as a factory.

As a curiosity , an escape tunnel was rebuilt in original size in the exposed cellar of the brewery by the Berliner Unterwelten association : it is twelve meters long and part of the Berlin Wall Memorial.

The Factory opened on June 11, 2014. Eric Schmidt , the Executive Chairman of Google and the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit were the speakers at the opening ceremony. Both emphasized the relevance of the factory for the establishment of new industries in Berlin.

Brick stamp (here: location at a machine factory in Berlin-Charlottenburg). The stamp from the brewery building is similarly easy to recognize and preserved.

During the renovation, signs (brick signs or brick stamps) were found on exposed brick surfaces : C. F. G. Rathenow and Singer Bergzow near Rathenow . They indicate the place of manufacture of the bricks.

Use and expansion in Berlin

Mixing large companies like Twitter and Google with small start-ups in one building was a novel concept when it opened. By using common areas and events, small companies are to be supported through knowledge transfer and networking. In addition, diverse forms of collaboration with other start-ups in Berlin and Europe are emerging. In February 2019, the cooperation with 3000 companies from 70 countries will be reported on the Factory website.

In Berlin-Friedrichshain , Palisadenstrasse 89, up to 50 people (mainly musicians or artists) had used a building from GDR times that had been abandoned by Deutsche Post . The management of Factory Berlin had tried to get a lease in a planned new building at this point, including architectural drafts. The people who had been "evacuated" in 2016 wanted to move in again after the construction of a larger commercial building. But the owners of Factory Berlin terminated the pre-negotiated lease with the client, so that the previous tenants of PostOst did not get any new job opportunities. There is no new building at this point either, demolition work only began in 2018 (as of March 2019)

In the meantime (as of 2017) Factory Berlin has opened a branch in Berlin-Kreuzberg at Görlitzer Park .

Tenant (selection)

alphabetically (as of early 2019)

Ambivation, CareerFoundry, dataArtisans, easybooking.at, Edition F , Freeletics.com, GoButler, Google, JMES Investments, Kenkou, Limemakers, Lufthansa Innovation Hub, Merisier, NBT, Ohlala.com, Pfleglisoft, Proacda, Teamleader, TheNewMotion, phonedeck, relayr, SoundCloud, Uber, unu motors, versus.com, Zendesk

Former tenants

Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Iconpeak, KPMG, Mentor, Mozilla , MyFitnessPal, One Spark, Refined Invest, Run a Shop, Silicon Allee, TapTalk, Toast, Twitter, Urlist, Views, Wunderlist, Tim Raue , some artists

International expansion

The co-founder of Factory Berlin is Simon Schaefer, who is particularly keen to found or relocate further factories based on the mixed-use concept in other countries ( international expansion ). The first project has been implemented in Lisbon since 2017 . The opposite objective of bringing more companies to Factory Berlin ( expansion in Berlin ) is taken on by co-founder Udo Schloemer.

Web links

Commons : Factory Berlin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Factory Berlin website
  • Website
  • On Brauschau in www.tagesspiegel.de, April 1, 2012. Describes a new book about the locations of all Berlin breweries at the beginning of the 20th century. B. also a group photo of employees of the Oswald-Berliner-Brauerei.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Website of Factory Berlin: A brief history , accessed on March 4, 2019.
  2. ↑ Berlin Wall cultural monument; here: Brunnenstrasse 138, 139, 140
  3. ^ Breslauer (first) wheat beer brewery> Brunnenstrasse . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1876, I, p. 106.
  4. ↑ Data sheet of the former Mannheim company Kraft- und Dampfmaschinen Albert Gieselher from 1900, which supplied the brewery with the product of an Augsburg company in 1889. Here the address is already Brunnenstrasse 141–143; accessed on March 4, 2019.
  5. ^ Oswald-Berliner Biere , company sign; black yellow. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  6. ↑ Brunnenstrasse 140-143> Schlesische Malzfabrik AG . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1943, IV, p. 118 (No. 140 Administrators (A. Rost), Gastw. (E. Hanka)).
  7. ↑ Berlin Underworlds: History. Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  8. ^ The Factory Berlin / Julian Breinersdorfer Architecture. August 13, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2019 (American English).
  9. ↑ A touristic tour in the Berlin underground is described here, on www.handelsblatt.com; accessed on March 4, 2019.
  10. ↑ Photo of the reconstructed tunnel in the former brewery cellar .
  11. ↑ Mozilla And SoundCloud In Berlin Startup Hub , 2012.
  12. ^ Start-up scene
  13. ↑ Ziegelzeichen, location of the former Oswald-Berliner brewery, accessed on March 4, 2019.
  14. ^ Jonas Rest: Internet Campus Factory. Berlin now has an internet factory in Mitte. June 10, 2014, accessed on March 1, 2019 (German).
  15. ↑ "Thrown out, lied to and ripped off". On: tagesspiegel.de , accessed on March 4, 2019.
  16. ↑ This is what the new factory in Kreuzberg looks like
  17. ↑ Factory division
  18. ↑ The design is again from the Berlin architect Julian Breinersdorfer. The start-up Hub Builder Factory is planning a gigantic new campus in Lisbon