Wasserhäuschen und die Stadt

Wasserhäuschen have been a fixture of Frankfurt’s urban landscape for decades—serving as social meeting points, community notice boards, neighborhood living rooms, and repositories of local knowledge.

They connect different generations and social groups, provide spaces for spontaneous encounters, and reflect a lived urban culture. Yet their potential is rarely documented or deliberately protected, even though they function as important “third places” for neighborhood interaction and everyday democracy.

The project Wasserhäuschen and the City: Care, Democracy, and Community in Urban Space aims to make the architectural culture, history, and social function of these kiosks visible. Its goal is to highlight their significance for urban society and democracy, and to develop strategies for their preservation and further development. To this end, water kiosks are studied using methods from urban studies, cultural studies, history, and film theory. Interviews with operators and local residents, graphic documentation, and architectural surveys form the basis of the research. The findings will feed into spatial interventions, exhibitions, and a publication, creating a dialogue between the past, present, and future of these unique urban spaces.

The project team consists of a young, interdisciplinary group from architecture, urban planning, and cultural studies. Together with local residents, policymakers, and city administration, they work to strengthen water kiosks as designable and democratic places—making public space more vibrant and open in the process.