Julian Meisen served as a jury member for the Berlin Architecture Yearbook. On July 9 and 10, 2024, he took part in the selection committee for “da! Architecture in and from Berlin” 2025 at the Berlin Chamber of Architects. The jury reviewed 165 submitted projects. The yearbook will be presented to the public on March 14, 2025.

Cornelius has been part of a panel co-organized by HSBK and Fritz-Schumacher-Gesellschaft e.V., discussing the reuse of existing buildings. The event was part of Monat der Baukultur organized by Hamburger Stiftung Baukultur (HSBK).

© Philipp Niemöller

© Julian Martitz

Our vision for the design and development of the future community center in Hamburg-Rahlstedt was chosen as the winning design in an ideas competition. The project's starting point is the commitment of Rahlstedt's citizens, who have passionately advocated for a new community space. We are very excited to join this initiative with Common Agency!

On June 11th, Julian took part in a panel discussion titled “Shaking Up the Temples of Consumption – What’s Next for Shopping Malls?” Together with Michael Biel (State Secretary at the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises), Nils Busch-Petersen (CEO of the Berlin-Brandenburg Retail Association), and Frederike Meyer (Editor-in-Chief at BauNetz), he discussed the uncertain future of Berlin’s more than 80 shopping malls, many of which are partially vacant.

Cornelius and Julian gave a lecture on the work of Common Agency and the special features of the project in the work at the Neues Amt Altona as part of the Monday series of the architecture course at the TU Munich.

Julian was invited to lead a workshop at "Strategietag Newcomer" organized by Berlin's chamber of architects alongside Wiebke Ahues, Eike Roswag-Klinge, Gabriele Bernatzky and Andrijana Ivanda. 

Julian represented Common Agency on a panel at Architektenkammer Berlin in the context of Hans-Schaefers-Preis 2023, which is awarded by BDA Berlin and Architektenkammer Berlin.

We are honoured to share that this year’s Hans-Schaefers-Preis for architects under 40 awarded by Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten BDA Berlin and Architektenkammer Berlin goes to Common Agency and Felix Dechert Architekten for our work on Neues Amt Altona eG’s new building in Hamburg-Altona.

“The jury recognises the design of the building as the result of a collaborative process, which is being shaped and moderated by the designing architects with their spatial expertise. The architects from Common Agency are co-initiators of the Neues Amt Altona cooperative and part of the planning team. The jury emphasised this expanded understanding of the architect's role as an innovative way of placemaking. The boundaries between the tasks of the client, the planner and the urban political actor intertwine, and a hybrid professional profile of the architect emerges.”

Even though the project is still in its development phase, the successful establishment of the Neues Amt Altona cooperative has already laid the foundations for a socially and ecologically sustainable form of urban development. We also see the award as a tribute to this process and want to dedicate it to the almost 200 cooperative members who have placed their trust in us to realize their future place of work.

Neues Amt Altona eG has acquired Altona's former tax office. The news were announced during a public ceremony together with Hamburg’s finance senator Dr. Andreas Dressel and Altona’s mayor Dr. Stefanie von Berg. The purchase of the property was made possible by the completed financing totaling 16.3 million euros.

As part of the Hamburger Holzbauforum series Cornelius presented Neues Amt Altona’s ecological vision and its timber construction during an impulse lecture.

Architecture Foundations published a series of online lectures on Hamburg’s urban development, Julian gave an online presentation on Common Agency and Neues Amt Altona, which is available on YouTube.

Neues Amt Altona is among the winners of 2022’s Real Estate Social Impact Investing Award, presented by the Institute for Corporate Governance in the German Real Estate Industry (ICG). Christina Veldhoen and Julian Meisen received the award on behalf of the NAA team during a festive ceremony at the Hotel Oderberger.

Cornelius has been part of a panel co-organized by HSBK and Fritz-Schumacher-Gesellschaft e.V., discussing the reuse of existing buildings. The event was part of Monat der Baukultur organized by Hamburger Stiftung Baukultur (HSBK).

As part of the Monat der Baukultur organized by the Stiftung Hamburger Baukultur (HSBK), Cornelius and Feena presented the Neue Amt Altona together with the Rathausblock Berlin at the event „Wie wir gestalten wollen“. The event focused on the cooperative development of projects with a social impact.

Common Agency has been invited by Fachschaft Architektur Universität Stuttgart (FAUS) to contribute to FAUS annual lecture series. During his presentation, Julian provided insights into Common Agency’s interest in integrating architecture and project development and how this approaches shapes projects such as Neues Amt Altona and others.

Julian will give a seminar called „No service Architecture“ at UdK Berlin during spring term 2022. Based on the observation that many of the most acclaimed recent projects in Germany where realized by architects, who also developed these projects, the seminar questions the traditional role of the architect as a mere service provider. The seminar will visit projects such as San Gimignano by Arno Brandlhuber and his team, Wohnregal by FAR frohn&rojas, Frizz23 by Deadline Architects, Eckertstraße 1 by Orange Architekten and Haus der Statistik. Students will meet the protagonists and analyse the economic and architectural strategies behind this practice.

© Philipp Niemöller

Who builds the city? Together with Yasmin Utku and moderated by Christian Holl, Julian Meisen provided answers to this question during the latest edition of IFBau’s architecture talk series in Stuttgart. During the livestreamed event Julian reported from the development process of Neues Amt Altona and reflected on the potential of architects to extend their agency within the process of space production.

Following the successful completion of Neues Amt Altona's pre-development phase, the planning process has been started. For the design phase, Common Agency entered into a joint venture with Felix Dechert Architekten. ASSMANN Planen + Beraten are taking over the technical planning.

© Julian Martitz

Julian had been invited to deliver this years commencement speech at University Hannover's architecture faculty, in which he reflected on the shifting role of architects and why there are many reasons to be optimistic being a young architect.

Niklas Maak proclaims "Die Revolution ist nah in Altona". The architecture critic of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Common Agency and the projects Neues Amt Altona and Neuer Berliner Platz.

The competition held by the Hamburg property developer Matrix Immobilien called for the design of approximately 25.000 sqm of housing and commercial space. Berliner Platz serves as the centre of the neighbourhood Hohenhorst which was built in the 1960s in order to create housing for the victims of the 1962 North Sea flood. Within the last decades the area suffered from demise. The re-design of Berliner Platz is meant to re-establish its former status as a functioning centre of the Hohenhorst neighbourhood. Our design proposes two terraced housing blocks made of modular timber construction.

NAA-posters are out to promote Neues Amt Altona and boost the onboarding process of new members of the cooperative.

German TV station NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) covers Neues Amt Altona in their daily show "Hamburg Journal", by interviewing Cornelius and Robert on site.

The German newspaper DIE ZEIT reports on Neues Amt Altona.

Common Agency and Heine Architekten share a 1. Prize with gmp Architekten in the Lightywood competition, organised by the Hamburg property developer PRIMUS Developments. Prior to the competition PRIMUS Developments has been chosen within a concept tender (Konzeptverfahren) organized by the local authorities to develop the site located in the harbour of Hamburg-Harburg – an area which is gradually transformed into a hub for light and service industries. The competition asked for design proposal for two lots. The jury decided to award one participant for each of the two lots. For the waterfront lot, our proposal was chosen. The design is planned to be developed in partnership with Heine Architekten and is based on modular timber construction.

The project team Neues Amt Altona has agreed on founding the cooperative Neues Amt Altona e.G. with the aim to become a registered cooperative within one year time. The founding members are Robert Beddies, Hans von Bülow, Feena Fensky, Timo Lundelius, Julian Meisen, Christina Veldhoen and Cornelius Voss. The agreement enables the cooperative to start collecting members and paying the upfront payment (“Anhandgabe”) in order to reserve the property until the cooperative has raised sufficient funds to acquire the Altona’s former tax office.

Hamburg’s state-owned real estate company LIG has chosen the concept “Neues Amt Altona” developed by Common Agency and Robert Beddies, the CEO of betahaus Hamburg, to be realised on the site of Altona’s former tax office (Ehemaliges Finanzamt Altona) between Neue Große Bergstraße and Große Bergstraße in Hamburg-Altona. After Altona’s former tax office was no longer used for its original purpose, it has been rented to a community of creative entrepreneurs for a minimum lease. In order to protect the creative community, the city decided to sell the property under one condition: The existing leases have to be protected for at least ten years. The property also consists of an adjacent two-storey commercial building facing Neue Große Bergstraße, which is planned to be demolished by the new owners, making space or a new structure.
Our proposal secures the existing leases for another twenty years and envisions a new building on Neue Große Bergstraße: Neues Amt Altona. The idea behind Neues Amt Altona combines two concepts: collaborative work and cooperative organisation. As a result, Neues Amt Altona is conceived as cooperative running a co-working space, allowing its future users – local entrepreneurs and creatives – to co-own their workspaces far below market value. According to our proposal, the new building will be built mainly in timber construction and offer highly flexible workspaces as well as an open ground floor for public use.