We laid the foundation for this project back then in the form of an application to the BBSR for their “Jugend.Stadt.Labor.” project funding at the time, in exactly the same way that we still prefer to work today - with an attitude that we call “cooperative resistance”. And to explain this, we need to tell the story of how the PLATZprojekt actually came about.

The story of the PLATZprojekt cannot be told without the story of the 2er-Skatepark (and vice versa). Before the PLATZprojekt came into being, the 2er - now one of the largest DIY skateparks in Europe - was built, initially illegally. After bad political decisions led to skating being banned everywhere in the city center (R.I.P., city center - we knew it back then…), we needed another place for it. At the time, a video by Pontus Alv was circulating in the scene, showing that you can simply mix your own concrete ramps in a puddle. The only thing you need is a bag of cement…

So we went in search of an area where we could try it out and quickly found what we were looking for in a fallow area in Lindener Hafern. We simply broke down the fence and got started. That went well for a short time and then at some point an excavator came and razed everything we had built to the ground again. But we didn’t let that discourage us and simply built the same thing again, only this time we made a video of our action, which we used to introduce ourselves to the owner of the property at the time - a large European supermarket chain. And lo and behold, we were lucky: the asset manager in charge happened to be a former skater himself and allowed us to continue using the property on the condition that we set up an association for liability reasons. That was the birth of the 2er and it not only still exists today, but has grown many times over in the last ten years, is growing even further into the future and has closed the gap for a long time that the city caused with its poor planning policy. Hanover now had a place to skate again, and one that was soon known throughout Europe.

With this experience under our belts, we took a look at the neighboring area almost a year later, which belonged to the same owner and was also lying unused. We thought that what we had experienced with the skate park could probably also be transferred to other aspects of the city and that it would be good if other people in completely different contexts had the opportunity to try things out in a similar way.

We ourselves withdrew from the association’s board early on, shortly after the infrastructure for the project and a larger, self-organizing group had been established, to make room for other people with different ideas. In doing so, we wanted to avoid a founding hierarchy and “top dog behavior” creeping in, which unfortunately can often be observed in such projects. Instead, over the years we have preferred to be accomplices and “critical friends”, contributing to the program at certain points and providing advice and support when needed. Other people have ensured that the project has continued to grow and develop in terms of content.

When the city of Hanover, which had benevolently supported the project all those years, signaled after about eight years that it wanted to buy the property in order to secure the PLATZprojekt and the 2er as projects, we as an architectural firm became really active again. Over the years, the owner had kindly given the land for the two projects for free, but only ever with a six-month lease with an option to extend. When the owner then wanted to sell the land, the city’s intention to buy opened up a truly long-term perspective for both projects for the first time. However, this required a due diligence review and it was clear that the project now had to be properly set up in terms of building law. Until then, the project had been “informally tolerated”, now a building permit had to be obtained and an architectural firm and structural engineers who were confident enough to formally approve this creative proliferation. After several offices had turned us down and offered little prospect of success and the city had already suggested that everything should be taken down and then officially rebuilt from scratch, we got to work. And we succeeded. Together with the structural engineer Dirk Tritthard, we managed to help the PLATZ project become legal under building law by means of a building notification with numerous deviation applications plus a safety and fire protection concept. To ensure that this remains the case in the future and to make it easier for other people and projects who may be planning something similar, we have summarized the knowledge we gained about informal construction during the process in a small set of rules entitled “How-to-PLATZprojekt”.

The PLATZ project still serves as best practice for us and our work today. It is proof that, under the right conditions, spatial and social gaps can also be closed by the urban community itself and that this is fun and that more than one grows in the process. Of course, this does not mean that we want to relieve the public sector of its duty to provide services of general interest. Rather, we want to show that a sense of responsibility and taking responsibility leads to greater growth than remaining in the consumer position. However, the framework conditions must be right or created for this - and we are happy to work on this!