The fine old Bötzow Brewery building in Berlin has had its fair share of ups and downs. Opened in 1885, it was soon a huge enterprise pumping out beer as fast as the Germans could drink it (which is pretty fast), and although it sustained damage in bombing raids during the Second World War, managed to limp on until 1949. The Bötzow family’s ties with the building ended in 1945 with the suicide of the founder’s son – fill in the blanks yourself on that one – and the buildings and grounds were sold and re-sold, going through various phases of re-invention including warehousing and use as a market site, as well as hosting the occasional arts and music event.

After several schemes for redevelopment came to nothing, Professor Hans Georg Näder got his hands on the place in 2010, which is cause for optimism; the owner of a giant medical tech firm, he recently built his own museum in the country to house his private art collection, and opened it up to the public. Now Bötzow Brewery is set for it’s next exciting phase as an arts and lifestyle centre under the watchful guidance of architects van Geisten Marfels, as well as becoming home to the Professor’s R&D department and a transparent wheelchair factory(?). Never a dull moment at this place…