Long live WK6!

An exhibition by studio mut.und.anmut at the Weißensee Academy of Art, Berlin, in collaboration with the Eisenhüttenstädter Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft e.G.

Berlin currently has a shortfall of more than 130,000 affordable flats. Rents here are rising faster than anywhere else in Germany. Yet just an hour and a half by train from the centre of Berlin, the demolition of vacant flats continues. The last federal government promised 400,000 new flats to resolve the housing crisis. But hardly any have been built. From a social perspective, this is a disaster; from a climate policy perspective, it is a blessing – the construction of new buildings accounts for up to 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. We should stop building. We should stop demolishing. We must adapt existing buildings to today’s needs – make them our own. To do this, we need to think outside the box.

If we are to adapt existing buildings for current and future uses, we need new narratives and new images that encourage experimentation. One way of communicating these is through prototypes. The Werkbund estates and the International Building Exhibition in Berlin (1957) exemplify this approach. They provided vivid examples of future ways of living together.

As part of the greenlab, we had the opportunity to build on this approach during the summer term of 2025. We explored WK 6 in Eisenhüttenstadt – currently the block most at risk of demolition – and, through initiatives such as ‘Hallo Hütte’, ‘Wir gehen dem WK 6 an die Wäsche’ and the ‘mobi treff’, developed formats that encourage the people of Eisenhüttenstadt to articulate their needs and wishes.

Designs were developed for the Q6 prefabricated block type, which, through variations in floor plans, enable new forms of living and use within the existing building stock. In collaboration with the Eisenhüttenstädter Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft e.G., the first two-room flat was transformed in 2026.