We Have a Book Gate
Browse, take books, add new ones—that’s the idea behind book-sharing cabinets. We now have one at the Stadtwirtschaft as well—thanks to the “Pförtnerhäuser” initiative as part of our National Urban Development Project, it’s a bit larger than the ones you might be used to seeing.
The “Pförtnerhäuser” (gatehouses) from our NPS project are not meant to discourage people from entering the Stadtwirtschaft. No one is checked at the entrance either. Instead, these are areas designed to draw people from outside into the Stadtwirtschaft. We already have a few spots to offer, such as the bouldering wall, the basketball hoop, and the outdoor workspaces. And now we also have our own book cabinet—or rather, our “book gate.”
The idea originated at a meeting of key players. Jetro Burkmann from the Materialinitiative Zeux took the lead and organized the planning and construction work. The right building materials—including plenty of wooden beams and planks, as well as suitable roofing material, an old door with a sliding window, and a large turnstile—were found at Materialinitiative Zeux. The turnstile had most recently been used to control access to a festival area; today, it supports bookshelves and plenty of reading material—allowing Zeux to demonstrate, through this example, how to recycle and repurpose used resources, materials, and components. Members of Zeux and the Stadtfabrikanten, along with Ingo Scheller, pitched in with the construction work itself. The Stadtfabrikanten also provided electricity and lighting—thanks to solar panels. Finally, artist Marina Klavina contributed to the design. The initial stock of books came from the collection of Subbotnik e.V.—but the first book swaps have already taken place.
This is how a true community project came to be, which opened on April 8, 2026, and will continue to be managed by the participating key players. From now on, the book gate can be visited during the Stadtwirtschaft’s opening hours, between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.
