The Co-Care project is a cooperative housing development near the Tempelhof S- Bahn station (Berlin) that promotes the spatial organisation of care work. The aim is to break down androcentric living structures and rethink living as a place of relaxation for carers as well. The motto ‘Living is working’ of the 1970s women‘s movement is being implemented by shifting care work from private spaces to communal areas. Care work is understood to mean direct care services such as childcare, elderly care, housework, emotional support and social reproduction work.  Socially, it is structurally invisible and economically undervalued, often performed by women, poorly paid and not recorded in economic balance sheets, even though it is essential for the economy and society. Co-Care aims to collectively and visibly reorganise this work.

 The five-storey solid wood construction integrates spaces that are ecologically, reproductively, communally, socially and self-care oriented. In terms of urban planning, the building is divided into a north wing with apartments and a semi- public ground floor zone, an east tower with a square and café in an old railway infrastructure building, a regional market in the supermarket extension, a bicycle repair shop in the historic building and a staged staircase to Tempelhofer Feld. Central care functions such as a laundromat, childcare and a neighbourhood canteen are located on the ground floor or in a single-storey structure - they relieve the burden on private apartments and strengthen the community. These are complemented by urban gardening, co-working, studios, bicycle parking spaces, a community garden, homework, craft and music rooms. The living areas are staggered: in the north, wooden-framed exterior walls with corrugated iron; in the south, a passive, sound-insulating double façade with a winter heat buffer and summer chimney effect. Living arrangements range from cluster flatshares to 2-3- room flats to one-room and temporary single apartments. Pergolas open up and narrow into sleeping areas. The outsourcing of care work enables compact private living spaces. 

Structurally, the building is based on wooden bulkheads, sound-insulated wooden beam ceilings, wooden frame exterior walls and a southern double façade. Co-Care is a spatial-structural model for solidarity-based living: it makes care work visible, distributes it fairly and connects living with communal infrastructure and public space.