If you take a walk in Werksviertel-Mitte in the direction of WERK1.4, you will often be greeted by the screeching of a saw or an angle grinder or other typical sounds of wood or metal processing when the weather is nice. Michael Niedermair, one of the district’s craftsmen, is often responsible for this. The trained carpenter has been running his workshop – not a spelling mistake! – here in the neighborhood.
His story: Niedermair has been on a bit of an odyssey since he arrived in the district. “First I was at WERK3,” he remembers. A friend had had a design studio there since the beginning of Kunstpark Ost. “His first rent was one mark per square meter. Logically, he had taken up a completely oversized space for himself.” As rents rose with the success of the Kunstpark, the same designer looked for a subtenant and found one in Michael Niedermair. When WERK3 was finally to be “revitalized” – when Niedermair says the word “revitalized”, which comes from the language of project developers, it is accompanied by a wonderfully sympathetic smugness – Niedermair moved his studio into the Zündapphalle. Until he finally moved into the new WERK13 in spring 2024. Actually a very typical Werksviertel career.
In the early days of Kunstpark Ost, such a development was unthinkable. “Back then, my workshop was right under the Rot room.” For Niedermair, the club not only became a craft practice room for furnishings, but also his favorite club. The party area was always busiest at the start of the week. “Because if you had a good club, then something was always guaranteed to be broken after the weekend.” If, on the other hand, everything remained intact, the party hadn’t been wild enough. Craftsmanship as a sign of quality. Fortunately, the parties at Kunstpark Ost and later at Kultfabrik brought Niedermair plenty of orders. Including at the legendary Tabledance, where he was involved in the VIP lounges. “Even I was able to learn something new there,” laughs Niedermaier. “Or do you know what a champagne flute is?” Champagne flute? Never heard of it! It was a device that allowed the dancers in the lounges to elegantly dispose of the champagne they had ordered so that they didn’t get too drunk themselves. Ingenious. But those days are long gone.
Today, Niedermaier instead builds modular, sustainable office furniture that can be completely dismantled or the beer garden at Café Kosmos, on garage roofs with photovoltaic solar pavilions for cooling the beer barrels, or buffets and counters and acoustic elements for the trendy bars in Munich … Like the world, Michael Niedermair has also evolved. And will continue to do so. When he took a look at his new studio, his huge balcony immediately caught his eye. “It’s far too big for just me,” Niedermair thought and converted it into a
Niedermair converted it into a cultural balcony, where he now regularly organizes concerts with small bands or larger choirs, while the audience is seated in the beer garden opposite. “It would be a shame if we didn’t make use of this wonderful space.” And with this sentence, he actually sums up the spirit of Werksviertel-Mitte quite well.
What’s your favorite place in the city? The beer garden at Café Kosmos. And not just because I was allowed to help design it.
What do you like most about your city? Everything. I just like the concept of the city. It would be far too boring for me in the country. That would kill me. I have to be able to open the window and then there has to be noise from other people or cars, there has to be movement. If everything was quiet, I’d feel like I was dead. I need a background noise around me.
What don’t you like so much about your city? What many people don’t like – whether it’s the traffic, the noise or the infrastructure, which is currently reaching its limits – for me, all of that is simply part of a city.
What time do you prefer to be out and about in the city? I think it’s great when I can cycle across the Viktualienmarkt and through the pedestrian zone between 8 and 9. The city is just waking up. There’s not so much going on yet. Then maybe a leisurely cycle up Theatinerstraße.
