Re:Form – Eden

The Eden community, located near Oranienburg north of Berlin, is the last remaining settlement of the ´Lebensreform´ movement from the early 20th century. Despite the challenges posed by the National Socialist movement, the GDR era, and the post-reunification reorganisation of the early 1990s, the community has managed to preserve core principles of cooperative organisation and identification. To secure these values for a collective future, principles regarding land ownership, as well as economic and lifestyle reform, require a contemporary re:interpretation that translates the community’s philosophy into new socio-spatial concepts.

Against this backdrop, architectural students developed urban and architectural design proposals centred on the future use of a partially derelict fruit-pressing factory and other vacant sites in Eden. During the initial research and intervention phase, the group collectively constructed an ‘Agora’—a communicative festival infrastructure that invited community members, experts, and students to engage in discussions and co-create the community’s future from within. This project and accompanying seminar (PIV) were conducted by the Natural Building Lab (TU Berlin), in collaboration with the Department of International Urbanism and Design, Habitat Unit (TU Berlin) and the association re:eden e.V.