A visit to the Design League
If you took a look behind the front door at Designliga, you probably wouldn’t believe your eyes. The team of designers, consultants and architects have dedicated blood, sweat and tears to turning the former warehouse into a stylish showcase. With comfortable armchairs, a kitchen and a courtyard tucked away behind the building, this is the perfect place to work and play.
As someone who knows the area well, where are its most attractive spots?
Being able to sit near the water while you eat or drink is definitely going to be great and we’re really looking forward to seeing everything that goes on in the Piazza. It’s a bit like being in Venice, where you take a shorts stroll away from the heaving Piazza San Marco to find euqally attractive spots. Those who like to explore will discover all those tucked-away corners. From a more romantic planning perspective, it would be great to link the Isar canal more strongly with the rest of the site. This waterway is barely a stone’s throw away. Watching the water flow past calms the mind, and it’s lovely and cool there in summer. Walks around the Flaucher riverfront park should really start from the Gasteig HP8.
What does this site mean to you all?
We’ve built up a real professional and personal network in the community during the ten years that we’ve been here. Pilates sessions help if you’re feeling down and if your blood sugar is low, then one of the amazing chocolate bars from Senjak tyre dealers will put you right. It’s like being in a village; there are so many different people here whose lives and professions are intertwined with this site and that crazy combination is what appeals to us. Whatever your problem, you can find a solution here – or at least an answer.
What are your thoughts about your future with the Gasteig here?
Culture is very close to our hearts, so we’re looking forward to meeting lots of exciting new people! The Isarphilharmonie is a project that we can all benefit from. The focus is on offering creative experiences at a fair price. What matters is what’s inside. Put like that, we believe that Gasteig HP8 will be an absolute sensation!
Master joiner Hans Murr appreciates his supportive community
Since 1999, Hans Murr has spent an insane number of nights working in his joinery, on jobs including building portable bar tables for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaften (German touring car championships). These days, the master joiner takes things a little easier and spends his time showing trainees how he creates items out of wood – for example, music stands for Gasteig’s musicians.
In the Isarphilharmonie, lots of wood is being brought to life. What are your thoughts about the Gasteig moving in?
Generally speaking, we’re all pretty happy about it. Even though I’m not that interested in culture, I still think that craft and art can have a mutually beneficial relationship.
What’s your relationship with your neighbours here on the site?
We all help each other out. Clemens Bachmann Architects get the blanks for their models from me, for example, and I’ve also worked with the guys from Coat’n Cast to fit out vehicles. That involved visiting the TÜV vehicle inspection centre, just a few metres away in the vehicle workshop, which is really handy!
And you have an amazing amount of space here! …
Although I’m the main tenant in the joinery, there are actually six self-employed people based here. There’s a paint shop in the basement and an office on the first floor. We have all the tools here that you need to repair furniture: planers, wide-belt sanders, circular saws, edge grinders, a veneer press, modern CNC machine tools, and so on. This is a great place to be – it would have been awful if we’d had to move!
Text: Maria Zimmerer
