Anchoring the Avant-Garde: Inside Aeyde Haus on Berlin’s Karl-Marx-Allee

Main Facts

Berlin’s iconic architectural landscape has gained a new landmark of adaptive reuse with the opening of Aeyde Haus. Marking a decade of rapid international growth for the Berlin-born footwear and accessories label Aeyde, the brand has established its permanent global headquarters within a historic monument of 1950s Socialist Classicism: the former Haus des Kindes (House of the Child) on the monumental Karl-Marx-Allee.

Spanning three interconnected levels, the new headquarters consolidates the brand’s executive offices, a design library, a material atelier, and a dynamic showroom space. To realize this ambitious spatial transformation, Aeyde partnered with the renowned Berlin-based architecture and scenography studio Gonzalez Haase AAS, founded by Judith Haase and Pierre Jorge Gonzalez.

The resulting design is an exercise in "intervention by subtraction," peeling back decades of accumulated interior layers to expose the building’s original prefabricated reinforced concrete structure. By marrying the stark, monumental heritage of East Berlin’s post-war reconstruction with a tactile, human-centric design language, Aeyde Haus functions as more than a corporate office. It is a living, breathing workspace that bridges local history and global modernity, honoring the legacy of the building’s original designers while charting a fresh course for contemporary retail and design culture.

Chronology

1954: The Birth of Socialist Classicism

The structural genesis of Aeyde Haus dates back to 1954, when the 70-meter-high, 13-story Haus des Kindes was completed over Strausberger Platz in Berlin-Mitte. Conceived as a grand mixed-use complex comprising a children’s department store and residential apartments, the building was a physical manifestation of early GDR civic ambition and prefabricated concrete engineering. Its primary architect, Hermann Henselmann, was a central figure in East Berlin’s post-war reconstruction, also shaping the urban vision of Alexanderplatz. Concurrently, the interior architecture was meticulously developed by his wife and creative partner, Irene Henselmann—an often-overlooked contributor whose work imbued the imposing socialist structure with subtle material refinement, human proportions, and delicate flourishes, such as custom staircases and polished chrome handrails.

2016–2026: A Decade of Aeyde’s Ascent

Founded in Berlin, the footwear and accessories house Aeyde spent its first ten years carving out a distinct niche in the global fashion ecosystem through a commitment to modernism, accessible luxury, and quiet elegance. As the brand outgrew its previous iterations, founder and creative director Luisa Dames sought a permanent home that mirrored the company’s dual identity: deeply rooted in Berlin yet fundamentally international.

The Intervention (2025–2026)

Gonzalez Haase AAS—who coincidentally once maintained their own offices inside the Haus des Kindes—undertook a rigorous spatial restoration. Stripping away decades of non-structural partitions, the architects liberated the ground-floor volume, restoring ceiling heights approaching five meters and re-establishing long, continuous sightlines. By 2026, the newly christened Aeyde Haus opened its doors, featuring bespoke display systems by set designer Stefanie Grau and a curated research library by Paris-based editor Dan Thawley.

Supporting Data & Spatial Specifications

• Location: Karl-Marx-Allee, Strausberger Platz, Berlin-Mitte (formerly Haus des Kindes).
• Architectural Style: Socialist Classicism (1954 core) intersected with contemporary minimalist industrial design.
• Architects: Gonzalez Haase AAS (Judith Haase and Pierre Jorge Gonzalez), celebrated for shaping physical brand identities for Balenciaga and 032c.
• Spatial Layout: Spans three interconnected levels, organizing public/collective functions on the ground floor and hands-on design and atelier spaces on the upper level.
• Key Materiality:
  • Stamp Béton: Cast-on-site concrete with visible air pockets used for the reception desk and showroom kitchen to match the building’s massive structural volume.
  • Metals & Glass: Anodized aluminum storage panels, hand-polished magazine shelving, ribbed Plexiglas framed in aluminum, and standard silver mirror glass to amplify natural light.
  • Textiles: Velvet-like acoustic pinboards and a monumental five-meter-high showroom curtain that shifts between opacity and translucence.
• Modular Proportioning: A strict 60-centimeter module governs all doors, cupboards, storage units, and bespoke fixtures, creating a human scale that counterbalances the building’s monumental exterior architecture.
• Lighting Strategy: Exposed parallel LED strips (one warm, one cool) set within raw aluminum profiles running the length of the ceiling, avoiding dropped ceilings to keep the raw concrete construction legible.

Official Responses & Creative Vision

The collaboration behind Aeyde Haus is rooted in a shared philosophy of structural clarity, restraint, and historical reverence.

Luisa Dames, Founder and Creative Director of Aeyde:

"Karl-Marx-Allee carries a powerful architectural identity. Monumental, modernist, anchored in the history of East Berlin. The location felt right very quickly because of its story. Aeyde grew in Berlin and became international; for me, this place brings both together. The fact that the building once served as a house for community, education, and everyday life felt like a meaningful parallel. We wanted a place that brings work, exchange, and creation together, not simply an office but a true house."

Dames further emphasized the synergy with Gonzalez Haase AAS, noting:

"We share a focus on the essential—proportion, materiality, light. Aeyde Haus is meant to become a long-term point of reference—for us, for our community, for our work."

Judith Haase, Co-Founder of Gonzalez Haase AAS:
Detailing the studio’s subtractive approach to architecture, Haase explained the decision to reveal the building’s bare bones:

"Normally you would have a suspended ceiling and you would not see how the building is made or how the structure works. We kept everything open, with nothing suspended, no additional layers, just the rough visible structure."

On the importance of material honesty rather than surface decoration, Haase added:

"We don’t paint walls for decorative reasons. Color comes from the material itself… It has a physical strength that is needed in a space with such a large volume."

Furthermore, Haase highlighted the project’s historical tribute to Irene Henselmann:

"Haus des Kindes reveals the strength of a woman whose contribution was rarely acknowledged."

Implications

The realization of Aeyde Haus holds profound implications for urban design, corporate real estate, and the intersection of fashion and heritage preservation in contemporary Berlin.

1. A Blueprint for Adaptive Reuse in Post-War Architecture

East Berlin’s Socialist Classicism architecture has long polarized urban planners—often dismissed as overly ideological or monolithic. By reclaiming the Haus des Kindes through respectful subtraction rather than demolition or pastiche, Gonzalez Haase AAS proves that mid-century collectivist architecture possesses an innate spatial generosity and structural integrity that modern tech and fashion houses can harness. The project sets a new benchmark for how commercial entities can inhabit historical monuments without erasing their complex pasts.

2. Feminist Architectural Recovery

Beyond its aesthetic achievements, the project serves an important cultural role by bringing visibility to Irene Henselmann’s contributions. By explicitly honoring her original interior interventions—such as the refined marble flooring, the sweeping staircase, and the rounded chrome handrails—the designers correct a historical oversight, elevating female authorship within the male-dominated canon of post-war architectural history.

3. The Evolution of the Workspace

In an era dominated by remote work and generic corporate co-working spaces, Aeyde Haus champions the concept of the physical workspace as a "house" rather than a cubicle farm. By integrating a research library curated by Dan Thawley, modular installations by Stefanie Grau, and dedicated hands-on ateliers, the headquarters acts as a cultural salon. It fosters interdisciplinary exchange between fashion designers, architects, set designers, and editors, proving that a brand’s physical home can serve as an active cultural producer rather than a passive backdrop.