UFA-Fabrik

In the summer of 1979, over 100 people took over the desolate grounds of the former UFA-Film studios, creating a comprehensive work and living project for innovative social, cultural, and ecological lifestyles. We now have about 30 resident members (ages 7 to 90 years) and about 200 employees. Our four-acre site, leased from the city, includes a café, two theaters and an open air stage with beer garden in summer, a guesthouse, a neighborhood center, and an animal farm, children's circus, a bakery, and an organic market, . We host a wide variety of dance and sport classes, a free school, Germany's number one samba band "Terra Brasilis," an ongoing ecology exhibition, and an International Theatre Festival in alternate summers.

The urban village of 18,500 square meters (approximately four acres) is divided into various areas. The spirit of enterprise you can discover here encourages people's involvement and has inspired many to take chances in their lives. In 2004 the ufaFabrik was honoured by the UN-Habitat as one of 100 projects worldwide that got the status "Best Practice to Improve the Living Environment."