To extend the existing reach of the Prinzessinnengarten in Berlin, the Neighbourhood Academy in the »Laube« was founded in 2015. It extends the already existing place of collective learning and gardening with an arbour, which in its architecture does not see itself as a finished product but as a stimulus for an open process of appropriation and engagement. Architecture students, apprentice carpenters and volunteers were involved in the construction. The arbour was created through shared knowledge and skills. The academy is an open platform for self-organised and future-oriented learning, general community support as well as common gardening. Its architectural expression is shown in the form of the arbour, as a self-construction without a predetermined programme, where workshops and meetings of the academy as well as spontaneous actions take place. In the sense of a common good, the arbour is open to all. The arbour was initially built on a surface area of 100 square metres and grew to a height of 10 metres. It takes neither light nor cultivation space away from the garden.

Extending the reach of the Princess Garden as a place for collective learning

Further networking and greater opportunity space of the Princess Garden of the on topics of socio-ecological change: urban ecosystems, change in urban society, urban-rural relations, sustainable building, local digital networks, food sovereignty, commons...

Prinzessinnengarten