In the 1990s and 2000s Berlin saw the formation of so-called Baugruppen (building groups) – associations of small-scale investors who joined their modest capital to commission an architect and construct a multi-storey building in which they would own and occupy a flat. They were often united by a belief in community values and neighbourly contact as well as the qualities of urban life. Several Baugruppen buildings were awarded prizes for both innovative design and cutting-edge technology.

My paper will present the Baugruppen as an example of the intricacies of bottom-up initiatives in an industrialized Western country. The groups had to rely on professional architects and project managers to realize their dreams of unconventional homeownership. Their design choices were influenced by the availability of state subsidies as well as by Germany’s complex building legislation. In some cases the Baugruppen managed to resolve these challenges and commissioned convincing, creative design. In other cases they succumbed to the tensions among the different members, and too many cooks spoiled the broth.

The paper will also look at the contradictory political goals connected to these initiatives. Most Baugruppen members were middle-class professionals with young children who cherished left-leaning political views and an ecological awareness. Some were former squatters and radicals sympathizing with the idea of a non-commercial, self-organized urban life. Mainstream media tended to portray them as “good investors”, because they built for themselves, the speculative element in their investment was comparably small, and their activities aligned with the declared goal to keep well-to-do families in the inner cities.

At the same time they contributed to a conservative political agenda. They furthered home ownership in a city where the tenant majority had come under pressure from eroding tenant protection laws. They belonged to a highly educated and comparable affluent minority. And they stood on the winning side of Berlin’s enhancing gentrification cycles that increasingly priced less wealthy residents out of the central neighbourhoods.

My paper will show that both design process and political strategies of the Baugruppen are emblematic for the contradictions of bottom-up agency in a highly professionalised architectural environment.