A Campus at the Edge of Known
Announcing the commons hub event campus — an alpine node of the not-yet-here
Somewhere between the Alps and the internet, a seed has been quietly sprouting. What started as an improvised venue in a fading alpine inn is becoming something else — an interdisciplinary campus for a world in transition.
Rooted in place, yet connected to global networks, it blends guesthouse and festival site, coworking space and retreat. A prototype, a playground, and a monastery of the future — not to retreat from the world, but to shape it from the edge of known.
This is the story of the commons hub — and how a surprise opportunity made us double down.
from inn to hub
We didn’t start with a grand vision.
In 2020, we just wanted to hang out and build digital engineering tools, in 2021 to talk crypto commons despite Covid.
The improvised main stage of CCG 2021
By 2022, we began to wonder: could this place become permanent? A base for hosting, maybe living, even a guesthouse, if things went well?
Things unfolded their own way. Two brothers teamed up. Communities channeled their energy. And ideas began to stick. The inn transformed into a hub.
CCG 2023 with vastly mproved setup
Then, in early 2024, disaster hit.
The commons hub was thoroughly vandalized. All tech and most furniture destroyed. It felt like the end.
But community showed up — with donations, comfort, and countless hours of help.
We decided to host CCG 2024 despite it all. And the spark returned.
In the following months, we quietly rebuilt, but this time on solid ground.
By January 2025, we were ready to go all in: our dad had signed over the house, we had quit our jobs, and a long list of improvements was waiting to be tackled.
Half a year later, the house is ready. We’re still catching up on the season, but the hub is open, legal hurdles are resolved, and the books are slowly filling.
👉 Read more on recent improvements here
From hub to campus
Now, as we re-launch the hub, an unexpected opportunity has emerged to accelerate our path toward the Valley of the Commons we have been dreaming up for years (blog post coming soon).
Two buildings next door — a 370 m² church and a 380 m² chapel house — are up for sale since early summer. We’re not the only interested party. But we’re the only local team with a running concept, a living hub, and a vision that fits the place: the commons hub event campus.
Church and chapel house are just around the corner of the commons hub
Church of the Commons
A spacious, atmospheric venue for summits, concerts, and exhibitions — flexible, professional, and full of symbolic power. The perfect place to preach our gospel and convene the weird and the wise.
Hell’s Valley Hostel
A warm, affordable place expanding our accommodation capacity. For summer schools, project weeks, event guests, or just hikers who love the mountains.
Together — the commons hub event campus
A modular venue with 60 beds and event spaces for 15 to 250 people,
plus a fablab and podcast studio for cosmo-local goods, services, and knowledge production for the commons. A shelling point for culture, code, and collective imagination, combining infrastructure and atmosphere to support deep work and global reach.
We didn’t plan for this. We had imagined expanding in a year or two.
But the opportunity came early — and if we don’t act now, it’ll be gone.
Everyone knows the key to a village is control of its inn and church.
We’ve secured the first. The second is being offered on a silver plate.
We’d be fools not to take it.
A site for metamodern lifeworlds
As the world fractures and institutions lose trust, we need new kinds of places — where the social, technical, economic, and ecological meet on equal terms. Places where the not-yet-here can be tested, lived, and felt.
The commons hub is such a place.
A guesthouse. A co-working space. A festival site. A retreat. A testbed.
It is all of these — and maybe the more that no given concept can yet describe.
Above all, it’s social infrastructure for the messy process of transition:
where ideas become prototypes, strangers become friends, and crises become action.
We call it an event campus — a monastery of the future may be equally fitting.
Not to retreat from the world, but to shape it from the edge of known.
Over the next 12 months, we’ll be building it and will envision its role in more detail — together with the communities that already co-create this space. The bank is on board. We’re in dialogue with the church. And our community lending campaign launches next week (see next post).
