How Vienna’s Historic Bread Factory is Redefining Flexible Design

In a historic industrial building in Vienna's 10th district, historical substance meets future-oriented spatial concepts: the Co-Innovation Factory in the former Ankerbrot factory is now a vibrant place for creativity, cooperation, and change.

A place with history – and a future

Since 2009, the legendary Ankerbrot factory in Vienna's 10th district has been enjoying a new lease of life. The former industrial site, dating back to 1912, has been transformed into a diverse cultural hotspot featuring studios, exhibitions, events, restaurants, and educational institutions.

In the striking entrance building with its iconic Ankerbrot lettering, innovation researcher and entrepreneur Dr. Paul Blazek teamed up with architect and designer Claus Schnetzer to create the Co-Innovation Factory: a flexible workspace and think tank that responds to the demands of a knowledge-based future – with room for inspiration, collaboration, and sustainable change.

Space for innovation: flexible, inspiring, sustainable

The Co-Innovation Factory is not a traditional office, but rather a versatile space covering approximately 1,500 m². Here you will find:

Workshops, lectures, and film screenings
Meetings, innovation processes, and creative formats
Breakfast meetings and after-work parties

– all in an inviting, customizable setting.

The highlights of the room concept:

Light-flooded domed hall with glass VIP lounge on the gallery
Multifunctional work zones such as the innovation lab or the Spaceship Studio
Community Space at its heart – the impressive height provides space for art installations
Welcome & Connection Area for informal exchange
Corporate Innovation Office with office space available for rent and exclusive access to the roof terrace

In keeping with its versatile use, the furniture is also flexible. The idea behind this is that users can design their own environment and adapt the rooms spontaneously as needed. For Paul Blazek, this active involvement is crucial—it helps to inspire and engage people in change and innovation.

“Only those who design spaces themselves become an active part of change.” – Paul Blazek

Reuse and repurposing as a design motif

The various layers from the building's more than 100-year history were carefully exposed and preserved. Whenever possible, the original building materials were reused for the necessary renovations.

Historic bricks, staircases, and fixtures were preserved or upcycled
Disused transport crates and former server cabinets were turned into bar counters and retreat rooms
Old furniture from abandoned offices is given a new function

In this way, the history of the place remains visible and tangible without sacrificing modern functionality. The processual and unfinished nature of the atmosphere is also intended to stimulate a workshop atmosphere and provide impetus for working together in the morning.

Space meets process: The innovation trail

It goes without saying that Blazek's technical equipment and furniture are state-of-the-art for analog, hybrid, and digital collaboration. Even before its market launch, the Co-Innovation Factory became a test lab for our flexible Confair Next furniture range. The result is a walk-in format: the innovation course. In clearly structured zones, teams go through all phases of an innovation process – from inspiration to solution:

Welcome Area: Arrive & awaken curiosity for new things
Collaboration Forum: Arrive & awaken curiosity for new things
Inspiration Space: Discover diversity
Challenge Room: Identify potential for improvement
Innovation Gate: Developing a vision
Solution Room: Working out solutions
Community Forum: Sharing results, sparking enthusiasm

A playful but highly effective format – tried and tested many times, interdisciplinary, and enthusiastically received. Here, the different dimensions of sustainable working environments come together to form a particularly productive whole that constantly brings new ideas to the world.

Co-innovation requires community

The Factory sees itself as an open house, embedded in a creative environment of culture, media, and science. Cooperation is not a by-product, but a fundamental principle.

This also includes close collaboration with Wilkhahn, whose furnishing concept consistently implements flexibility, sustainability, and user-centricity:

Occo Chairs, Timetable Lift Tables, Graph conference chair
Stitz sit stand stool, Stand-ups, Aline stacking chairs
First test environment for Confair Next

The Confair folding table is just as future-proof as the Occo chairs and other Wilkhahn products. They are equally at home in an office environment, at home, in a meeting, in the kitchen, or in a café. For me, this is an essential prerequisite for value retention and future-proofing. And on top of that, they are not only practical, but also beautiful.

Claus Schnetzer, architect and designer

A holistic approach

The Co-Innovation Factory reflects the various dimensions of transformation processes. The former industrial district has developed into a center for culture and knowledge generation. A previously closed office was opened up and transformed into a place for intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. The result is a mixture of old and new and a genuine “work in progress.”

Health, collaboration, identity, and sustainability—the cornerstones of our concept for a people-centered workplace—come together here to create an inspiring place.

Wilkhahn is a partner whose furniture solutions really help to promote communication and innovation. But its holistic approach and understanding of sustainability have also provided important impetus for the concept of the entire space.

Dr. Paul Blazek, founder of the Co-Innovation Factory, CEO of cyLEDGE Media, innovation researcher and lecturer

Conclusion: A space of possibilities with charisma

The Co-Innovation Factory is much more than just a workplace. It is a testing ground, catalyst, and source of inspiration for organizations that want to actively shape change.

Whether for architects, change managers, NGOs, or companies:
This is where space meets ideas, history meets the future, and change meets attitude.