In 2015, the vacant Haus der Statistik was threatened with demolition in favor of an investor-driven new development. To prevent this, the Alliance of Threatened Berlin Studio Houses (AbBA) staged an art campaign in September: a large-format poster in the style of an official construction sign was affixed to the façade - with the inscription:
“Spaces for art, culture and social affairs are being created here for Berlin.”
This high-profile intervention started the discussion about the future of the building - and became the starting point for the founding of the Haus der Statistik initiative.
At the beginning of 2016, the initiative began to build a broad alliance of different stakeholders: social and cultural institutions, artists, architects, urban development initiatives, associations, foundations and committed individuals. Possible uses, participation formats and organizational structures were discussed together in public networking meetings.
The founders of the initiative included the Center for Art and Urbanistics (ZK/U), raumlabor berlin, the Belius Foundation, Stadt Neudenken, bbk Kulturwerk and Schlesische 27. The initiative was supported early on by the Berlin-Mitte district council, the then district mayor Dr. Christian Hanke and the Berlin Chamber of Architects.
ZUsammenKUNFT Berlin eG - Genossenschaft für Stadtentwicklung - was founded in 2016 as a result of the core group of the Haus der Statistik initiative in order to be able to act and create a legal basis for cooperation with the city and state.
In the same year, the initiative's concept received the Berlin Award from the Senate Department for Urban Development. Shortly afterwards, the project was anchored in the coalition agreement of the red-red-green state government: the site was to be remunicipalized and the Haus der Statistik developed for the common good. In 2017, the state of Berlin acquired the building from the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (BImA). The initiative's ideas for use were expanded to include the municipal need for administrative space and a new town hall - thus laying the foundation for today's Haus der Statistik model project.