The MAKER-TAINMENT Hub
The Maker-tainment Hub in Stuttgart is a versatile, innovative space that blends making and entertainment, featuring adaptable circular volumes and diverse programs to engage the community, foster innovation, and activate urban surroundings.
Team name: MLA+
Authors: Luca de Stefano, Li Tan, Jun Yang, Netherlands
STUTTGART’S NEXT URBAN DESTINATION
Not just another museum, park, community centre, or mall. Cities around the world have plenty of mono-functional public spaces, urban dead-ends, and incredibly expensive buildings active only a few hours a week. These types of projects are failing worldwide, serving only small portions of the population, and surely Stuttgart doesn’t need another one. In such a critical location, it needs something better. We aim to create something entirely unique – a space where Stuttgart’s industrial heritage meets innovation, communities meet new opportunities, business meets tourism. A place for all. A new icon to activate its urban surroundings: the Maker-tainment Hub. In the Hub – the first of its kind – making and entertain-ment come together. This hub will serve as a new destination for all citizens and visitors, while also activating the green square behind the old station, which currently risks becoming a repetitive and empty “back” of Stuttgart’s city centre.BUILDING GEARS
The building will consist of six complementary circular volumes that work like gears. The front of the building, with a large public square, faces the station while a quieter facade looks over the new development, bringing strong identity but also a peaceful interaction to its surrounding. Each volume can rotate and connect with the others, allowing the space to change. For example, a public event staircase can turn outwards to face the plaza or turn inwards to become an internal lobby. The rotating volumes can connect all the internal spaces or isolate them at different angles. This flexible design makes the building highly adaptable to different uses – and futures – while becoming an icon.
ALL ABOUT “MAKING”
With a total area of 90,000 sqm, all our programs are built on the idea of “MAKING”, from industrial heritage to innovation, from maker culture to food and beverage. While the ground floor will be populated by public programs, such as exhibitions, cafes, and events, the top floors will house Makers’ rooms. Here, corporations, start-ups, community organizations, research institutes, and governmental agencies can find space to host their most “wow” work, for a public audience to visit and explore. It’s work and entertainment at the same time, representing the power of Stuttgart’s innovation ecosystem.
- “MAKE RESEARCH”: Prototype testing, experiments, and education
- “MAKE INNOVATION”: Latest technologies and the future of automotive
- “MAKE START-UP”: Small entrepreneurs, agile teams, and artisans sharing spaces and collaborating
- “MAKE COMMUNITY”: Community rooms for education, children’s activities, workshops, and much more
- “MAKE SUSTAINABILITY”: Latest developments in green tech and the circular economy