The Spore Initiative and its new building in Berlin

Since 2020, the Spore Initiative has been promoting biocultural diversity with cultural and learning programs. With a new building in Berlin’s Hermannstraße, the initiative is now also anchoring itself in the urban space. More about the design by AFF Architekten here.

The non-profit Spore Initiative Foundation has been committed to biocultural diversity since it was founded in 2020. It works with cultural and learning programs and places communities at the heart of its work. The aim is to embed community life in a respectful approach to nature. Spore supports groups in developing cultural tools to preserve and share specific and oral knowledge.

For this diverse mediation offer, the initiative wanted to work with AFF Architects to create a building that would offer adaptable spaces and at the same time serve as a source of inspiration. The aim was to create a protected, inviting appropriation space to encourage experimentation and collaboration. The architecture of the Spore Initiative’s new building is intended to express the fundamental themes of the foundation’s work. The brick building opened in April 2023.

The new building on Hermannstrasse in Neukölln enables Spore to anchor itself in an urban neighborhood. Together with the house for non-profit journalism being built next door – “Publix” – the new building ensemble is located in the context of large cemeteries, old urban neighborhoods and close to the former Tempelhof airfield. Both buildings have a staggered height development with up to six storeys. Publix is due to open in 2024. The double new build is supported by the Lörrach-based “Schöpflin Foundation” as an independent, non-profit foundation.

The guiding principle of the new Spore Initiative building by AFF Architekten from Berlin is “meeting place”. It is expressed through differentiated open spaces and spatial functions. The two buildings are offset from each other, creating an extension of the public street space that resembles a forecourt. This special activity space provides the common address for Spore and Publix.

The architects attached particular importance to the sensitive urban integration of the ensemble. This included, for example, integrating a historic cemetery wall into the concrete outer wall. The façade consists of monolithic, finely coordinated materials. Large glass façades open up the building to the public on the first floor. In addition to an auditorium and exhibition spaces, there are also internal areas such as offices, a library, studios, common rooms and artists’ apartments.

The column-free first floor space has a honeycomb ceiling structure made of exposed concrete. With this minimal use of materials, AFF Architekten show what an open interactive landscape with an identity-forming character can look like. The materials are used as “raw materials” in order to demonstrate their structural properties and achieve maximum durability. With its public use concept, the building will contribute to society and initiate many types of use in the future.

The rust-brown brick building is Berlin’s latest philanthropic project. The building, which offers free access for everyone, opened in April 2023. Ecology is not only the focus here in the large garden. The oak kitchen, the colorful furniture from all over the world and, above all, the guests at the opening are a testament to the focus of the Spore initiative. Mexican artists, for example, exhibited indigenous Mayan knowledge. They explained that there are already answers to many of the world’s problems if we look to indigenous knowledge. The artist Cecilia Moo is one of the first to be allowed to use the artist apartment in the new building.

The house by AFF Architekten is divided into two areas. Where they meet, the building recedes a few square meters. This was necessary in order to preserve the listed “approach lighting masts”, tall light poles that showed the way to Tempelhof Airport during the airlift. The combination of nature and culture is particularly important to the Spore Initiative. While monument protection is of course respected, the house is there for use: the rustic wooden floor is allowed to get scuffed, the clinker brick should defy wind and sun, and the garden and the new public space are intended for all neighbors and visitors. By the way: the recycled clinker bricks are from BacksteinKontor and the new bricks are from Ziegelwerk Klaus Huber in Saxony.

The Spore House’s mix of exhibition house, research facility, learning laboratory, studio, community garden, cultural and district center is unique. Indigenous knowledge is to be stored and disseminated here and also enter into a fruitful exchange with Western research. As a new type of institution, the Spore Initiative offers a complex range of exhibitions, educational workshops, lectures, discussions and film screenings in its building. It started in April 2023 with a major program on the lifestyles, narratives and ecological practices of the Maya of southern Mexico.

Spore Initiative’s mission is to promote biocultural diversity. The focus is on dialog with indigenous communities. Although they make up only 6 percent of the world’s population, they protect around 80 percent of the remaining biodiversity. They are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change and are particularly threatened by the agricultural and raw materials industries. Their knowledge of the plant and animal world offers invaluable potential for climate and nature conservation. Spore wants to preserve this knowledge, which is mostly passed on orally, make it accessible and share it with the world.

In the years before the new building was constructed, Spore was already working with indigenous peoples to develop cultural tools for communicating important content. The initiative offered financial support and professional expertise. For example, radio plays with ancient Mayan stories, information brochures and animated and documentary films on Mayan agricultural practices were created. They can be found in the Spore House, but were also distributed in Yucatán.

Incidentally, the Casa Mérida on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is located at the center of Mayan culture in Mexico and explores the relationship between traditional and modern architecture.