What’s the nicest place to live? A look over the garden fence to the neighbor reveals that this is very individual. Some enjoy pecking chickens in the overgrown garden, others put an end to any uncontrolled growth with bark mulch. You can imagine how big the challenge is to develop a concept for communal living. The municipality of Gräfelfing wants to dare and has initiated a housing project on the former Doemens site on Stefanusstraße. It is a novelty in Munich and the surrounding area: for the first time, a municipality, a municipal housing construction company and an interest group of citizens are acting in tandem. The key data were presented to the public on Wednesday, together with an invitation to help shape the project.
The idea of realizing a special residential project on the Doemens site has already made a few rounds in the municipal council. It is now certain that Gemeindebau Gräfelfing, the municipality’s municipal housing company, will become the owner of the property, take on the role of builder and also manage the future apartments. There is also agreement that rental apartments should be built here, not a cooperative model, as was previously envisaged.
The first thoughts of what living in the planned 40 residential units could look like have already been forged: interested citizens who want to develop a living concept have joined forces in the Alte Brauakademie interest group (IG) Alte Brauakademie. The IG has been a registered association with 39 members since the summer. In a first workshop, working groups were formed that want to work through the various topics of living together by mid-December, starting with the question of how much privacy and how much community there should be, right through to considering who will live in the apartments in the future. Everyone agrees that old and young, singles and families, including people in special circumstances, should find a place.
Initiators of the project: the architect Patricia Young Balik and local councilor Martin Feldner.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
The merger of the active is completely open, emphasized Martin Feldner, municipal councilor of the Greens, third mayor and joint chairman of the IG with Patricia Young-Balik. Committed neighbors, potential roommates – everyone is invited to contribute. You don’t have to be a member to do so. One thing should be clear to everyone, Feldner said: Anyone who is now working on the concept does not acquire a right of residence in the later project. “There is no privilege for club members.”
The “club of reality” hovers over everything: the economy must be given
The next workshop will take place on Wednesday, November 16, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the former Doemens building at Stefanusstraße 8. Parallel to the housing concept, work is being done on the cooperation agreement between municipal building and IG Alte Brauakademie. The contract determines how much say and codecision the IG has in the project. The IG has already expressed ideas here: They would like to sit on the jury of the architectural competition and be involved in the subsequent allocation of the apartments.
Many a dream home will fail because of the “reality club”, said Natalie Schaller from the Stattbau GmbH. The Munich-based company supports housing project initiatives, including the Gräfelfinger family. After all, community-oriented living is also about affordability and feasibility. This will show whether a yoga room, a bicycle workshop, a shared roof terrace or a guest room are also feasible for everyone. Till Reichert, Managing Director of Gemeindebau, also emphasized this: “It must be economical.” The construction costs have to be amortized over the period of living – around 80 years. This specification is the guide rail for all ideas and wishes. In addition, the layout of the apartments must also be suitable for future generations. If communal living fails, the residential units must be usable for other living ideas.
Where the old buildings of the Doemens Brewing Academy still stand, the ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for March 2025.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
When the groundbreaking ceremony takes place in March 2025 – according to the rough plan – and when the residents hopefully move in in June 2026, it will become clear whether the community has achieved what Mayor Peter Köstler (CSU) wished at the information event formulated: make affordable living space for Gräfelfinger possible, integrate a modern mobility concept, anchor an ecological way of building and living and create the conditions for a lively neighborhood that radiates beyond the garden fence.