How We Live
This is a sculpture of apartments at Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg, which were built between 1973 and 1977 and designed by Herbert Stranz as a member of the “Planungsgruppe SKS” in the form of a brutalist social housing complex. The houses were once threatened with sale, but they still belong to the city of Berlin.
In May 2012, tenants of this social housing complex in Kottbusser Tor (Berlin) were told to either pay a rent increase or move out. The private companies Hermes and GSW, which had received subsidies to provide affordable housing, continually raised the rents as the city reduced subsidies. The neighbors organized into a group called Kotti & Co,
eventually causing the municipal housing company Gewobag to acquire the building, saving the tenants from eviction and steep rent raises.