An ecosystem for talent
The "ST3AM" at the Adlershof campus is a place where people can work in a more flexible, creative and interdisciplinary way
There to foster focus and release happiness hormones: Roland Sillmann, managing director of WISTA, tests the social swings in the meeting area © WISTA Management GmbH
Sneak Peek into ST3AM © WISTA Management GmbH
At the university campus in Adlershof, a new hub called ST3AM is taking shape where people can work on ideas that will truly drive humanity forward in a more agile, creative, and interdisciplinary way than other places. The concept is unique and a magnet for talent.
It will be different. It will define a new way of working. It will pave the way for new, disruptive ideas. Ideas that will serve to answer the most pressing questions of our time and find solutions for the challenges of the future. A place is taking shape in Adlershof where founders, entrepreneurs, young talent, and researchers can work together across disciplines and with state-of-the-art technology—while being enabled to quickly put their ideas into practice. The concept will be “beyond co-working”, a type of universal creative nucleus, which doesn’t yet exist.
This is not about offering yet another workspace with a flat rate for coffee. “It’s about providing access to a universe of knowledge, co-creation, and talent,” says Roland Sillmann, managing director of WISTA Management GmbH. "Our accumulated experience as a technology park operator will be funnelled into this new working environment.”
This new environment is reflective of a paradigm shift on the site: The initial mission of WISTA was to create jobs at the Science City Adlershof, which has since been accomplished. More than 35,000 people now work and study at Germany’s most cutting-edge technology park. It is now increasingly about taking care of these people as well as the emerging young talent. One thing is for sure: “The better, the more inspiring your work environment is, if unusual ideas can flourish that help create something meaningful, the likelier it is that outstanding results will follow,” Sillmann is convinced. And this is exactly what is needed to respond to pressing issues related to the climate crisis, sustainability, and resource scarcity. These are part of the Grand Challenges and also precisely the kind of issues that drive young talent.
For all those future makers, there is a permanent address on campus starting in early summer: ST3AM at Rudower Chaussee 28. A novel symbiosis of maker-, working- and convention space is being created here on around 3,000 square metres. The technology park developer WISTA has poured all its experience as well as current research on the requirements for creative work into the overall concept, which envisages five separate zones for the new space: an area for focused work, an area for cooperation and exchange, an area for inspiration and prototyping, an area for learning, and an area for relaxing and regenerating.
Sillmann emphasises how important it is to offer these different zones: “Study shows that impact-oriented people have a significantly higher risk of burning out. We need spatial separation. We need zones for relaxation. But we also need the WISTA Academy so that managers learn more healthy leadership and let people use these quiet zones.” WISTA has enlisted the help of occupational psychologists from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin for a three-year research project to make ongoing adjustments and address the needs of talented employees.
A special feature is the makerspace on the ground floor which is exceptionally well equipped with a “digital area” that has VR glasses, 3D printers, laser scanners, and laser cutters, among other things. Other technical highlights will be integrated, including an optical 3D printer, courtesy of the Adlershof-based start-up Xolo, a metal printer, and a BigRep printer for large objects. This means that a suitable device is available for almost every project.
There is also an “analogue area” where the community can try out their ideas by creating prototypes in a metal, wood, and electronics workshop, which includes an assembly area. Regardless of the technology used, start-ups as well as small and medium-sized companies will be enabled to create prototypes and realise creative projects in a hassle-free way. There will not be an industry focus; instead, the community is to embrace its fractal and interdisciplinary nature. Moreover, the intention behind these new spaces is to inspire young women (in addition to everyone else) and nudge them towards the STEM professions. “We could also see the smart minds taking part in the ‘Jugend forscht’ national science competition developing their projects here,” says Sillmann, “because they are the solution finders of tomorrow.”
Between the two 800-square-metre makerspaces, there is a lounge and arena area. A place where people can engage in an exchange and give presentations. This is also the place where the creativity workshops and advanced training seminars of WISTA Academy will take place, which will be organised together with companies. Moreover, there will be a convention area for events like seminars in connection with the manufacturing facilities, for example, for team building events.
In all this, the emphasis is on designing an inspiring environment. The Estonian designer Urve Liivak incorporated scientific insights into the nature of creative work into her concept for the space and the furniture. The design neither follows the pop-coloured Google style nor the aseptic Apple cleanliness but a warm, lounge-like style with muted beige and green tones and gold-coloured accents. It feels like a lobby, not like a lab.
Especially the upper floor exudes this feel-good, living room atmosphere, with approximately 2,200 square metres of versatile workspaces and rooms of different sizes, all furnished with premium designer furniture. There are more compact offices with six workstations and some with thirty. For those seeking to withdraw for focused work, the space offers specially designed so-called “silent boxes” and “mind spaces”. The area is broken up by lounge zones that encourage informal networking.
Users can book individual desks but also entire office units at standard market rates—the exchange with other tenants is always included.
This sounds a lot like new work, but it is more than the buzzword suggests. With ST3AM, Adlershof is creating an entire ecosystem for talent, for them to support each other professionally, cooperate on concrete projects, and inspire each other. Without fear. Failing and freewheeling are expressly permitted. The space embodies an agile and collaborative work culture. This makes it unique and a magnet for people who seek to find the answers to the great challenges of our time.
Chris Löwer for Adlershof Journal