Building Together - Raise the Bar, OHA!

The project ‘Building Together – Raise the Bar, OHA!’ is part of the development process for the new cultural venue OHA West. With many helping hands, a bar is being built from natural materials for long-term use: it will serve as a bar for cultural events and as a meeting place for exchange, encounters and shared experiences in everyday life.

The construction process is deliberately designed to be a central element of the project. On several construction days, members of the OHA e.V. association, students and interested individuals work side by side and try out new forms of collaboration. Under professional guidance, planning, construction and design are developed and implemented together. In this way, OHA West is not only being created as a bar, but as a lively cultural venue – where people can plan, build, discuss and celebrate. At the same time, it shows how sustainable, participatory design can shape the city. ‘Building Together – Raise the Bar, OHA!’ combines craftsmanship and design with social participation and democratic co-determination. The bar's construction relies on natural, durable materials and an open design that offers quality of stay and flexibility. Through the participatory approach, skills are shared, knowledge is imparted and creative ideas are translated directly into the built form. The project shows how joint action can shape a public space and makes democratic design tangible in the truest sense of the word.

The project is coordinated by dedicated members of the OHA e.V. association, who previously ran the Osthang. With partners such as Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, the Mathildenhöhe Institute and WDC, the new location is becoming a place for participation and culture.