Die Macherei

Breakthrough In Sculpted Place Making

Text by Jessica Knobloch-Arscott

Status  COMPLETED 2022

Type  COMMERCIAL

Location MUNICH, GERMANY

Client  ART INVEST &  ACCUMULATA 

Size  200,000 SF

Scope  CONCEPT-CA

Collaborating Architects  OSA OCHS SCHMIDHUBER, MSM MEYER SCHMITZ-MORKRAMER

Team  MATTHIAS HOLLWICH, MARC KUSHNER, ROBERT MAY, JESSICA KNOBLOCH-ARSCOTT, TODD SHAPIRO, KATHLEEN CAYETANO, LAURA YANG, MALIKA YAPA, GREGORY PIETRYCHA, ALBERTO HERZOG, AXELLE ZEMOULI, NICOLAS LEE, CYNTHIA HSU, MARTIN SAFAR, MYRIAM HAMDI, CYNTHIA TANG, FRANCO CHEN, JOEL HAGERTY, KUAI YU, MARIO WALKER

Most European cities have strict laws about distances and setbacks between buildings. Munich is not different. But public space of quality can not be created with rules and regulations, but with creativity and spatial sensibility. This is why we broke with every rule when we designed Die Macherei (The Makery) in Munich, and provoked an urban design that puts people first and rules second.

Specifically, in our design for Die Macherei, HWKN carved out open air, elongated plazas that now extend through what was once the interior of a monolithic structure. We created lively, multi-hued public spaces where there were none before.

The easily accessible plazas provide new points of entry to each building’s tenants: among them, a ground-breaking ‘urban hospitality’ hotel from Scandic, John Reeds, the hip-hop inspired sports club, and Design Office, with its multi-disciplinary workspaces. With Die Macherei, HWKN is changing real estate in Munich, creating purposeful buildings for generations to come.