Z/0603

On the doorbell signs of an inconspicuous Berlin apartment building you can find not only names, but also cryptic number codes such as Z/0603. These codes are part of a growing business model that takes advantage of the urban housing crisis. Instead of building new apartments, existing ones are divided with simple walls, turning two rooms into four, each barely eight square meters. This is often done without permits, ignoring regulations designed to protect existing housing stock and to preserve neighborhood ties that evolved over decades. Equipped with basic furniture, these tiny rooms are rented out for 600 Euros or more on a short-term basis. It is a profit-driven model, which forces people from all over the world — be it healthcare workers from the Philippines or digital nomads from Brazil — into temporary, ever-changing shared living arrangements. What is it like to live in such a place, far from home, with constantly changing roommates? Julia Tomalka explores this question in Z/0603.