ZK/U Extension and Renovation, 2019–2025

2019 - 2025

Between 2019 and 2025, the former railway depot that houses ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics was comprehensively renovated and expanded. The project was developed in close collaboration with Peter Grundmann Architekten and responds to the growing spatial needs of ZK/U’s artistic residency, cultural programme and neighbourhood-based activities. Planning took place between 2019 and 2021, followed by the main construction phase from 2022 to 2025. 

Rather than replacing the existing building, the architectural concept preserves the character and material presence of the former freight-station warehouse. The original brick walls, ceilings and ground-floor hall were retained as far as possible and enclosed within a new, lightweight steel-and-glass structure. This transparent shell improves the building’s energy performance while keeping the old industrial fabric visible. The resulting dialogue between the raw existing structure and the new construction reflects ZK/U’s broader approach: working with what is already there, adapting it collectively and opening it up to new forms of use. 

Because the building is surrounded by the public Stadtgarten Moabit, the extension was designed without occupying additional parkland. Instead, the former single-storey hall was extended vertically. The project added approximately 1,500 square metres of usable space, effectively doubling ZK/U’s exhibition and working areas. New rooms provide additional space for artistic production, exhibitions, workshops, meetings, cultural education and projects developed together with the surrounding neighbourhood. 

At the centre of the renovated building is the former heating and storage hall, which has been transformed into a year-round event and gathering space. The transparent building envelope allows the original hall to remain largely uninsulated and materially intact, while the climate-controlled zone surrounding it makes flexible use possible throughout the year. Spaces on all levels, including the event hall, new work and project rooms, the vaulted cellar and the roof, can now accommodate a wide range of artistic, cultural and community-oriented formats. 

A central element of the extension is the Urban Stage, a publicly accessible rooftop terrace visible from the surrounding neighbourhood, the railway lines and the nearby Westhafen. Conceived as an additional urban space rather than simply as the roof of a cultural institution, it offers room for artistic interventions, performances, encounters and experimental forms of public use. The terrace continues ideas tested between 2021 and 2024 through the temporary Urbane_Bühne and now provides a permanent setting for changing projects, mobile gardening, beekeeping, environmental education, Güterverkehr workshops and Kunst-am-Baum activities. More than 180,000 commuters pass the site every day, making the rooftop a visible platform connecting ZK/U with the wider city. 

The renovated building was presented to the public during Berlin Art Week in September 2024 and entered regular use in 2025. With the completion of the project, ZK/U has strengthened its role as an artist-led production and residency space, a cultural venue and an important meeting place for Moabit. The expanded facilities support exhibitions, performances, cinema, music, urban research, repair and educational workshops, neighbourhood markets and self-organised initiatives, bringing international artistic practices into direct exchange with local forms of knowledge and participation. 

The architectural approach has received significant recognition. In 2026, Peter Grundmann Architekten were awarded the DAM Preis for Architecture in Germany for the ZK/U extension. The jury highlighted the project’s careful transformation of the existing structure, the clarity of its construction, its flexible use of space and the close collaboration between the architects and KUNSTrePUBLIK e. V. The project was also recognised for achieving a socially and architecturally ambitious cultural building with comparatively limited resources and a substantial contribution of hands-on work. 

For the extension of the ZK/U, we are working together with the following companies (contracting list here)

Supported by the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Berlin as part of the Future Initiative District (Zukunftsinitiative Stadtteil), Social Cohesion Program (Programm Sozialer Zusammenhalt‘).