High5 for Berlin!

Hammering, sawing, drilling - repeat! On 11 May, observers at the edge of the Summer Garden were treated to a very special sound concert. Together with the Cologne-based association Little Home, Messe Berlin erected five sustainable Tiny Houses for the homeless under the motto "High5 for Berlin". Around 100 Messe Berlin employees were on site and dedicated a day to building the small living boxes. The association led by Sven Lüdecke has set itself the goal of offering shelter and accommodation to the homeless through self-built Tiny Houses.

Doing good is contagious: Grüne Woche as a model

For Lüdecke, the project at the Berlin exhibition center was not a first. Already at Grüne Woche 2023, volunteers and trade fair visitors were able to use a circular saw and cordless screwdriver to build a Tiny House for a good cause. What's special about Messe Berlin's tiny shelters is that they are made of about 80 percent recycled trade fair materials. Only wear parts such as nails, screws and roofing felt were purchased new. Each house is 3.20 meters long, 1.20 meters wide and about 2.50 meters high. There is space for a bed and a shelf. In addition, first aid kits, fire extinguishers and camping toilets are part of the basic equipment.

Five Tiny Houses in one day

Despite the name, the Messe Berlin campaign was anything but "tiny." Six construction managers coordinated seven Messe teams assigned to different phases of building the houses: Floor, the two side walls, front wall, back wall and roof. The seventh team was responsible for painting the houses blue, white and pink.

At 9 a.m. on the dot, the lawn next to the Marshall House was transformed into a large construction site where people were busy sawing, hammering and painting. At a sunny 22 degrees, many a sweat flowed. It quickly became clear that teamwork was required to complete the project in one day.

In the afternoon, the five Tiny Houses gradually took shape. The floors had been completed and were ready on rollers in the middle of the lawn. The next challenge: assembling the individual parts. Colleagues assembled, screwed, painted and drilled until five finished houses shone in the early evening sun. That same evening, the colorful Little Homes were taken away to their destinations in Kreuzberg and Buch. There are already over 250 Tiny Houses throughout Germany. Five more are now joining them.