During the 1960s, the Haus der Statistik was built for the national statistics office for East Germany. The massive complex spreads over eight blocks at half a million square feet, comprising three connected mid-rises and some smaller buildings. As years passed, the Haus der Statistik's history and political involvement soon became a thing of the past after it closed down in 2008. Laying dormant and abandoned, local Berlin artists and activists decided to intervene once word of the building was said to be torn down and replaced with private apartments and offices. 

Upset with the lack of affordable housing, these artists worked together to save the building and use its massive size and structural potential to transform it into something the community needs. Nate Berg of Place's Journal reports that "what began as an effort to protest Berlin's lack of affordable housing turned into a serious plan to save the Haus der Statistik and adapt it to community needs, backed by €140 million in state funding. Now the artists are working directly with public officials, planners, and architects to lead a participatory process that will transform the area around Alexanderplatz." 

"It is a huge statement about the future of development in Berlin," said organizer Harry Sachs. If it works, it will be a model for bottom-up city-making — and a lesson in how outsiders can claim political power."

Since their first public protest 2015, the activists turned planners have connected and collaborated with government officials, organizations, and architects in order to transform the Haus der Statistik and reach its potential of successful housing for the community.