Hangar X Workshop

Torhaus is inviting you to join an experiment: What if we could collectively develop one of the six empty airport hangars?

In three workshop weekends, a collective planning process will start with methods of creative appropriation, tools of self-organisation, prototyping and self-zoning. Drafts and space requirements that were submitted in the open call will be further developed and supplemented together. Together we learn from and with each other how collective urban planning can work. The planning workshop takes place in the context of the "Living The City" exhibition in the entrance hall of Tempelhof Airport and is organized and conducted by Torhaus Berlin e.V. on a voluntary basis. 

Hangar X stands for the progressive collective and cooperative development of the historically significant airport building. Hangar X will be a place where actively and collectively discriminating and exploitative structures are recognized and replaced by structures and places of commoning and self-organization.

How can we take the design of our city into our own hands? Urban planning processes initiated by the citizens themselves often use their own unconventional tools to create spaces and dreams. During the first planning weekend we symbolically move into Hangar X and create together with the Popticum collective the first spaces for dreams. We will start Saturday with a joint breakfast and an input and then move into the hangar and build the first structures there. We use this prototypical move to approach the area of a hangar and to understand it properly.​​​​​​​

What structures do we need to create to organize ourselves in a community and not fall into old patterns? Hangar X is a space in which we want to deconstruct the hierarchies of capitalism and replace them with methods of commoning. But what exactly is commoning? How do commoners think and how can we implement these ideas? What physical and digital spaces does self-organization need and how do we organize the care activities collectively and in solidarity? On Saturday there will be input and discussion on questions of community, care and solidarity. After laying the mental foundation for Hangar X, we will explore how we can use decidim.org - an online tool for participatory democracy - to organize Hangar X and build a platform for Hangar X.​​​​​​​

The third planning workshop makes the reality check: What conditions prevail in Berlin, at Tempelhof Airport and in the hangar? What forms of "governance" are needed? How are spaces allocated and how do we finance our project in a way that is based on solidarity? After our common discoursive breakfast, we will develop a 3-year action plan together with Eva de Klerk (NDSM, Amsterdam) and outline a governance structure to ensure that Hangar X can withstand the real conditions. On Sunday we complete the Hangar X model.

In order to comply with the corona measures and to create a good workshop atmosphere, there is a maximum of 20 places for each workshop day. Please bring your mask and pay attention to distances. Disinfectants will be available on site. The planning workshop will be held in German or English or a spontaneous mix according to our needs. The planning workshop is barrier-free, LGBTQIA* friendly and has an awareness code, which the organizers will point out at the beginning of each workshop day and if necessary. Please write to us if you have any questions or suggestions on how we can make the workshop accessible and safe for you. You can use the comment field or send us an email: hangar@torhausberlin.de

Persons who advocate racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia or trans*misogyny or any form of bullying, violence and discrimination against other people or who are active in this regard is not invited and will be excluded from this event.

Since the planning workshop is organized on a voluntary basis, we are happy to receive voluntary donations. On Saturday the cooking collective from the Torhaus will cook a vegan lunch for us. Please write allegies and incompatibilities in the comment field so that we can consider them.