Apartment building renovated at a bargain price: Micha's colorful house in Chemnitz | ARD Room Tour скачать в хорошем качестве

Apartment building renovated at a bargain price: Micha's colorful house in Chemnitz | ARD Room Tour

In 2011, Micha bought a run-down apartment building with a rear building in Chemnitz at a bargain price. He gradually renovated it himself and turned it into his “colorful house”. He now lives here with his family and three other tenants in a large work of art. When Micha bought the house in 2011 for a small five-figure sum, it was in a difficult condition. It had been vacant for a long time and had been damaged by vandalism and the weather. The rear building in particular was run-down. It was ready for demolition at the time of purchase. The apartment building was originally built in 1892 - at a time when Chemnitz was on its way to becoming one of Europe's major industrial cities. It was one of the typical apartment buildings in the Schlosschemnitz district. Even today, murals in the stairwell bear witness to how sumptuously even these rather simple houses were decorated back then. While the front building was used as a residence from the outset, the rear building was intended for a workshop or factory. In GDR times, it housed an upholstery shop. When Micha entered the house for the first time, he found old nails and other traces of the former workshop. At the time, Micha didn't have enough equity to commission extensive and expensive renovation work. So he got started himself. Above all, he wanted it to be colorful and unusual. He transformed the house piece by piece into his individual dream. He wanted to turn the building in the grey street into a colorful island. He actually had an office job with the city at the time. He taught himself the art of craftsmanship - also with numerous internships, for example on the Kulturinsel Einsiedel, which is famous for its tree houses. Micha can now even weld - in his workshop, which he has set up in the rear building. Micha lives sustainability in a comprehensive way: The entire building is more or less a single upcycling project. Almost all of the furniture in his apartment, as well as many other objects in the house, are found objects: From bulky waste, from the recycling center or from friends and acquaintances. In this way, an ordinary apartment building has been transformed into a complete work of art. Micha originally lived in the rear building with his daughter, but has since moved into the front building with his current wife, theater director Silke Fischer, and their son. He has converted his old apartment into a vacation apartment, which is not only waiting for guests during the European Capital of Culture year 2025. A total of four co-tenants currently live in the front building, all of whom share one thing: The joy of Chemnitz's colorful house. A film by Andreas Piasek (editor), Michael Heinz (camera), Gregor Vogel (sound) and Michael Wolf (editor).