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Self building

10.11.2024

Selfbuild - Tuaregs

When I came into the LiMa Wohnhof with my shopping bags in my hands, I didn’t get home for a long time because people were talking to people in the yard. It was like a village. The self-builders worked like bees. This social life was a reality for us, it was like being born into […]

10.11.2024

Selbstbauer - Tuaregs

For K. the experience in the desert was overwhelming. We were just a bit crazy. I was Alexis Sorbas and he was the engineer who wanted to see everything rationally. He was like my brother. One night in the desert, he came to me, hugged me and told me that he loved me with all […]

24.09.2024

There is a message in the light

I told the architect: I come from the desert. And then the architect said: “The light here must be like in the desert.” There is a message in the light. You are born in the light. Everyone sees the world differently. You came here as a larva and built yourself the LiMa cocoon and then […]

05.04.2024

The self-build architects Reinhard Sappok and Jürgen Peters-Hünting

The self-build architects of LiMa – Reinhard Sappok and Jürgen Peters-Hünting It’s been a long life together with Reinhard since we started our studies at the TU in 1974. As we did a lot together during our studies and I lived together with Jürgen Peters-Hünting in a shared flat, it was only natural that we […]

04.09.2023

SELBSTBAU ANDREAS KINDT

Magazine of the Selbstbaugenossenschaft Berlin e.G. May 1988; “der baustein” No. 1 Self-determination However, the actual core of the cooperative organization is the possibility of self-determination over one’s own affairs. In principle, however, this self-determination has nothing to do with self-construction and self-administration, because self-construction and self-administration actually only mean that you do not have […]

23.08.2023

Selbstbau nr. 8 Baustein nr 1

something for students and unemployed We had good contact with the people in LiMa in general. The people were mostly college-educated people.This was an academic settlement. If you like, self-building was only something for students and the unemployed. That certainly had advantages in living together.

23.08.2023

Selbstbau Dokumente Bauzeitplan Legende

LiMa 1985 – construction schedule for the selfbuilders (finish-off work) September: window sill installation October:hanging shelfs November: Kitchen installation November: kitchen shelf installation I remember when the five semitrailers arrived with the kitchens for all the apartments. They all had to be installed, and they weren’t Ikea kitchens. All the cabinets were already built.

23.08.2023

selfbuild documents - work that must be done

LiMa 1985 – construction schedule for the selfbuilders(finish off Work): painting staircases: if necessary, carry out the work in 1986 – painting balconies: zinc primer + 1st coat  – painting roof terraces: if necessary, carry out the work in 1986 I can well remember the LiMa general contractor going bankrupt. For example, a company came […]

23.08.2023

Selbstbau dokumente 4

LiMa 1986 – cleaning rules – in rotation through all housing units – garbage rooms: In rotation through all housing units, i.e.  The garbage room of Markgrafenstraße is kept clean by Aufg. 1,2,6,7, the garbage room Lindenstraße is kept clean by Aufg. 3,4. The distribution is then 26 to 23 apartments. Responsibilities: Fill trash that […]

23.08.2023

Selbstbau dokumente 3

Broschure released by the Self-build cooperative; edited by Johannes Bense und Andreas Kindt: In order to realize the idea of cooperative housing , a group of people interested in housing policy, architects and planners as well as possible future users formed and founded the Selbstbaugenossenschaft Berlin eG in January 1984.

23.08.2023

Selbstbau dokumente 2

Broschure Wohnhof Lindenstrasse / Markgrafenstrasse: Depending on the extent of self-administration and management of the house after occupation, the gross payment amount may still be reduced. If the users take over the cleaning of the stairs, for example, approx. 15,24 DM can be saved per month. By sensible and economical use, considerable heating costs can […]

23.08.2023

Selbstbau dokumente

Dear comrades, please report the completion of any work not yet done by 28.02.86 to the self-construction management or to your stairway spokesmen.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 28

self-building is associated with financing As contact architects, we had relatively little to do with the self-construction. We had meetings with the construction managers and made sure that everything went right. Reinhard and Jürgen did a good job. Self-building is associated with financing. If you dreamed of this or that, that went beyond the standard, […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 27

they needed people who in reality were able to do this In order to begin the LiMA project in self-construction, a Cooperative was established and I was the founding member. The first project, the so-called residence shelf, was actually the first project of the self-construction cooperative, where people not only benefited permanently from reduced rents […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 26

I hammered nails into all kinds of cellar partitions We learned about the project after seeing a construction sign while looking for a new place to live.  We found self-construction interesting and liked the architecture.  It was not so angular. We participated in the intensive self-construction phase from spring to winter 1985 without initially knowing […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 25

I hadn’t experienced anything like this At first didn’t realize what we were getting into. The project cost us lots of energy and nerves. We were young working families with small children. That was often a real strain on the nerves. At times we also felt that we should throw in the towel and find […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 24

the only people who came here were those who were genuinely interested While we were still working on our apartment, everybody had a key and came in to look around and see how I did something and then ask lots of questions.  I also needed help while working and trying to finish the ceiling.  Initially […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau - oral history

I learned a lot at the construction site So the building site was very chaotic at the beginning. I stood there heavily pregnant on the scaffolding with a cable drum in tow and a heating pad on my stomach and painted the balcony grilles. The builders didn’t understand … I was fitter than ever back […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 22

I still remember that winter of 1985 very well. I didn’t do the hanging of ceiling. I tended to do the light work. In the middle of winter, there was a heater behind me and you were freezing in front. It was so cold and then you cut yourself when laying tiles and that was […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 21

the pressure was hard on relationships If someone didn’t comply with the set work schedule, they would be warned   I was also warned and that happened at the start of the construction.  You had to have completed a certain job within a given time. The pressure was hard on relationships.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 20

LiMa 1985 – in the background a 19th century industrial building integrated into the office building of the Berlin Insurance Company. The building was demolished in June 2022 by the investor Norsk Deutschland. Norsk went bankrupt in January 2025.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 19

we were comrades The framework was incomplete and the site management sent me into the apartments.  We did a lot of work here.  That was not something inconsequential.  We installed the sliding doors.  Installing the steel tracks was difficult because of drilling into concrete.  Then you had to hang the doors.  There were lots of […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 18

lacking our working hours, we created a garden group The building of a garage floor was planned in the Self-construction program, but it could not be carried out by the self-builders. Lacking our working hours, we created a garden group.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 17

working in self-construction, one had already gotten to know each other well I thought it was a brilliant idea: a new construction project with 48 parties where people all knew each other, just from the construction phase! One person could lay tiles, the other could do woodwork. People got to know each other during construction. […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 16

The open structures were the reason why we moved in At that time, we brought the ideal with us. The open structures were the reason why we moved in. In the past, there weren’t even doors at the gates. They were only installed later because it was too drafty.  The concept and the ideal were […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 15

LiMa has 7 staircases like houses with vertical streets and thereby horizontally each apartment projecting into the other houses, which are chained together and then slightly offset. Orientation is always the street location also in our vernacular. The Markgrafen was completed ahead of Lindenstrasse. We didn’t have any water on Lindenstrasse in January 1986. We […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau -Marathon

LiMa 1986 – residents welcome the runners of the Berlin Marathon on Lindenstraße There was a Julian who always played the trombone at the marathon. We weren’t all friends with each other, but we always had neighbors, and you could also be at home with them. LiMa Wohnhof greets you! I remember the Berlin marathon […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 13

LiMa summer 1986 – The LiMa monster was designed and build by Frieda Ysebaert My name is Frieda, I designed the sculpture. I tried to shape soft forms so that the children can climb safely on it. In these days no one called it a „monster“. I thought about an animal sculpture or something similar. […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 12

LiMa summer 1986 – Under the guidance of Akelei Hertzberger the mosaic at the sandbox is created My father asked me to do the mosaic for LiMa. The idea with this work was to involve the future residents of the house. The people work with their creativity. They are responsible. They made the whole LiMa […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 11

– LiMa Stories – So everyone immortalized themselves here with a small piece There were 10 or more children working daily on the project. They like the technic to use a hammer for to build the right size of the pieces. Children learn from each other. I even worked with children with 4 years old […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 10

LiMa stories – summer 1986 –  the production of the mosaic took about three weeks The playground mosaic was a communal project.  We were instructed by an artist. Most of the work was done by young mothers.  It was later necessary to create a day-care center that still exists today in the courtyard.  When I […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 09

a we-feeling My apartment was totally flooded with light and then there was the big balcony. It was an open way of living, which was a new experience for me. It was a we-feeling. We did it! Each with his possibility. And at some point we had arrived. I wonder today where the 36 years […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 08

The cherry tree in our garden   Is the cherry tree still there? It came from my parents’ garden.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 07

seeing I thought it was fantastic that one could be alone just inside the balcony door, but standing out on the balcony, you could see all five neighbors.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 06

we’re not on the side of capitalists LiMa was covered by the press. The entire process was critically followed by the public.  Busloads of interested people came to inspect LiMa, yet LiMa didn’t have any successors.  Coming out like this, this can only be done with teamwork.  And one must have a vision. Being a […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 05

LiMa childhood Groups of architects would come into the courtyard, sit down, make sketches and look around. We just made fun of it.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 04

The LiMa monster One counted and the others hid.  KLIPPO was the monster … You hit it on the nose.

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 03

LiMa looking south towards the Jerusalem church – the small owl I loved the courtyard. The courtyard was simply very practical. There were cool cliques, cool children.  We played tag.  We would then go from the courtyard over to the point of the church and the parking lot in the south.  There was the small […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 02

LiMa looking north in 2017 – the white highrise with the name “Kreuzberghaus zum alten Fritz” – the large owl As kids we’d sit in our rooms looking out to the courtyard and if we saw anyone outside, we all ran out or someone called to them. Hence, this was like a village, like a […]

16.08.2023

Selbstbau 01

Photographed from the 13th floor of the “Kreuzberghaus zum alten Fritz”: the southern tip of Block 30 – after the New Jerusalem Church – the LiMa Wohnhof Berlin (owned by the municipal housing association WBM), flanked by the two residential buildings on the right at Markgrafenstraße 9, 9A, 10, and on the left at Lindenstraße […]