ROOF was a temporary cultural space inside a former department store in Hamburg, bringing together creative communities through exhibitions, talks, workshops, food, music and nightlife. Over six months, more than 40 events turned the space into a constantly evolving meeting point, from intimate formats with 50 people to parties bringing together several hundred guests. ROOF also became the starting point for come.unity, our own community initiative. It was here that we developed and hosted some of our first come.unity formats, creating spaces for people to meet, exchange ideas, learn from each other and participate.
We developed ROOF from concept to execution, taking responsibility for the curation, cultural programming, community building and production of the space. ROOF was self-initiated and self-funded. We used our own resources to bring the idea to life: investing in the space, furniture, production and programming ourselves. There was no brand brief or sponsor behind it. We created the infrastructure first and used it to give communities, artists and cultural contributors a space to experiment, connect and build with us. Instead of building the program around one audience or discipline, we invited different parts of Hamburg's creative landscape into the same space. Artists, collectives and cultural contributors became part of the programming through exhibitions, conversations, workshops, parties and our first come.unity formats. This allowed ROOF to evolve with the people using it rather than following a fixed event calendar. At the same time, it gave us a space to experiment with an idea that would continue beyond ROOF: what happens when you don't just invite a community, but give people a reason and the space to participate?
Across more than 40 events, ROOF welcomed an estimated 10,000+ visitors. But the strongest indicator of its impact was what happened beyond attendance. People came back. Artists and collectives approached us with ideas for collaborations. Guests became contributors, and the space increasingly became something people wanted to participate in rather than simply visit. ROOF became a talked-about meeting point within Hamburg's creative scene. Some of the ideas and formats developed there became the foundation for what we continued to build with come.unity beyond the space itself.
