The Sargfabrik is much more than a housing model— it’s a way of life. Along with the luxurious roof garden, a range of common areas creates a landscape of communication and pleasure, with a cultural house, restaurant, kindergarten, and twenty-four-hour bathhouse that is also publically accessible. Parking spaces for cars were kept to a minimum in order to make room for the swimming area, and only by designating the building a “residence hall” could public funding be secured. The Sargfabrik and Miss Sargfabrik are owned by the Association for Integrative Lifestyle (VIL), which rents out the seventy-five units—maisonettes with floor areas of 45 m2, with the possibility of linking up to six units—modeled as a collective. There is very little turnover. Identification and dedication are already evident in the second generation, some of whom have no intention of moving further away than the neighboring Miss Sargfabrik, the younger sociotope offshoot. Its thirty-nine units, including a number of living-working-ateliers, provide for new spatial experiences with angled walls and inclined floors. A community kitchen, library, and rehearsal room serve to augment the Sargfabrik’s facilities.
