In English | ISSUE 2/2025
Graftlab
GRAFTLAB was conceived as a laboratory for modern working environments within the creative industry and fosters new collaborative formats through a focus on flexibility and cooperation. Located in the heart of Berlin, its open, transparent design represents the significance the creative sector plays in the city.
In the context of future-oriented work formats – from conventional office presence and digital transformation to remote working and third places – GRAFTLAB provides ample scope for collaboration and coming together. The plot, at the intersection of Invalidenstrasse and Ackerstrasse in the north of Berlin’s Mitte district, was bought by GRAFT’s founding partners in 2013.
With its integrated apartment units, GRAFTLAB combines living and working in the mixed-use housing typical of the classical Berlin quarter. The new building is characterized by the contrast between the urban vibrancy of the lively Invalidenstrasse and the quiet refuge of the landscaped inner courtyard.
The new volume deftly takes advantage of the difficult geometry of the plot – its L-shaped form completes the perimeter block along the street and encloses the firewall of the adjacent buildings, thus enabling a generous green space to the rear.
The GRAFT architects’ offices are designed as an open landscape offering amenities for the various aspects of everyday office life, starting with the generous open staircase in the entrance area, which functions as an auditorium for presentations by staff or external partners. The entire ground floor is a communal area for employees, which blurs the distinction between indoor and outdoor space: a place where community-building, physical activity, and meetings all flow and merge into one another.
The GRAFT office extends across three floors, which, by way of their connected air spaces, form a spatial continuum. The working areas are designed as variable open spaces, interspersed with internal phone boxes, lounges, and other familiar elements such as kitchenettes and meeting zones. Independent from the offices beneath, the fourth floor houses the conference level – a range of fluid forms in eggshell white. This spatial separation gives other GRAFTLAB tenants and external partners the opportunity to independently use and Access the flexible, light-filled rooms of the conference area without interruption.
All floors have access to the fully glazed rear side of the building, which offers views of the landscaped rear courtyard as well as the adjacent park.
GRAFTLAB is a prototype of a new kind of office building: its vibrant mixed-use typology; the extension of the working world into the natural environment; the distinctive floorplan design; and the variability of the spaces on offer highlight the benefits of heterogeneity and how GRAFTLAB’s laboratory character promotes new formats of working.