NiKA is a self-managed, permanently non-sale housing project in Frankfurt am Main’s Bahnhofsviertel, created by a group of 42 people who converted a former office building at the corner of Niddastraße and Karlstraße into long-term affordable housing.2 The project presents itself as part of the Mietshäuser Syndikat, a Germany-wide, grassroots network that supports collectively run housing projects so they can be removed from the speculative real-estate market.2
The building has a longer urban history: according to the Frankfurt network for communal housing, it was constructed in 1957 as an office building and part of the city’s former fur center, and later hosted interim uses such as artists’ studios, a tailoring business, fur trade activities, and architects’ offices.1 In the framework of Frankfurt’s concept-based allocation procedure, NiKa was awarded the property in the late summer of 2016; the purchase and 99-year hereditary lease were signed in summer 2017, and renovation began thereafter.1 The residents moved in in early June 2019, after about one and a half years of construction work.12
The project is organized around shared living and neighborhood links. It spans six floors, with a mix of smaller and larger shared apartments, plus a communal level that includes a guest room and roof terrace, while the ground floor is used for public-facing activities that connect the house to the surrounding district.12 NiKa describes itself as the first completed project from Frankfurt’s concept procedure and the first house project in the Bahnhofsviertel.2