BERLIN BLEIBT!

Spatial concept for the festival Berlin Bleibt!, Alte Postbankfiliale, Hebbel am Ufer Theater, Berlin 2019

The spatial concept for a temporary project space in a former Postbank office was developed as part of the Berlin Bleibt festival, organized by Hebbel am Ufer Theater. This week-long festival and exhibition provided a platform for exploring gentrification and urban politics through public debates, film screenings, interactive art installations, and live performances.

The iconic Postbank building, constructed in the 1960s, is characterized by its standardized, utilitarian design – a hallmark of many commercial office spaces worldwide. Currently awaiting renovation, the building is being temporarily repurposed for cultural and media production. The spatial concept emphasizes the building's interim state, revealing the multiple layers of its history as both a post and bank office, while also reflecting its present role as an event space and site of speculation.

At the heart of the space, a central carpeted stage area with flexible seating supports a wide range of event formats, creating a social space during the day. Overhead, a large-scale light installation disrupts the uniform ceiling panel grid, exposing the building's underlying infrastructure. A scaffold structure, roughly the size of a small apartment, serves as both an installation and a stage, providing a flexible framework for performance and interaction. The glass-walled cubicles host interactive art installations, while scrolling LED displays present the building's history and the ongoing transformation of the surrounding area. In the bar area, signs from a nearby closed-down kiosk create a direct link to the surrounding neighborhood’s ongoing transformation.