Foundation stone laid at official ceremony for inclusive housing project in Ulm Gögglingen-Donaustetten

Three Hoffnungshäuser (Houses of Hope) and Laubenganggebäude (building providing sheltered access to outside spaces) will provide 38 apartments for people of different backgrounds, age groups and cultures.

Ulm Gögglingen-Donaustetten, 7th October 2025 – With a ceremonial laying of the foundation stone, the Hoffnungsträger Foundation today gave the official go-ahead for a new inclusive housing project. Three so-called Hoffnungshäuser (Houses of Hope) and a Laubenganggebäude (building providing sheltered access to outside spaces) with a recessed top floor are being built on the site, which will in future offer 38 rental apartments – predominantly subsidised and thus accessible to families with a housing eligibility certificate. The aim of the project is to create affordable housing whilst promoting active coexistence between different generations and cultures.

What makes this location special is that construction and future management are not in the hands of a single entity. The building project was initiated by the RAM Foundation Ulm and the Merckle family, who have made it a personal mission to make a significant contribution to integration in their home region. The developer is RAM Hoffnungshaus GmbH & Co KG, and the Hoffnungsträger Foundation will take over future management. The local council of Gögglingen-Donaustetten supports the project. The laying of the foundation stone was attended by representatives of the Merckle family, the RAM Foundation Ulm, RAM Hoffnungshaus GmbH & Co KG, the City of Ulm, the local council of Gögglingen-Donaustetten, the local community, the relevant specialist planners and the Hoffnungsträger Foundation.

The apartments, ranging from 30 to 120 square metres, are being built using a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable timber construction method and meet the German KfW Effizienzhaus 55 NH building standards. The project thus also sets an example for energy-efficient and sustainable construction.

Marcus Witzke, CEO of the Hoffnungsträger Foundation, emphasised at the laying of the foundation stone:
“My vision for the Ulm site is this: on the one hand, Ahmed learns German from his neighbours and takes a job in Ulm. His neighbour Anna, living next door, discovers that a different culture is quite different from what she expected and enriches her life. I look forward to making this vision a reality together and shaping it together.”

As at all Hoffnungshaus sites, a site manager will live in one of the houses in Gögglingen-Donaustetten and actively support community life – in close cooperation with the local council and a network of volunteers and church parishes.

Ursula Merckle, a member of the Board of Trustees of the RAM Foundation Ulm, recalls: “When I first visited a Hoffnungshaus and experienced the sense of community there, it gave me goosebumps. We always expect refugees or migrants to integrate, but this also requires our willingness – that of every single one of us – to allow this integration to happen and to be open to it ourselves. And that is precisely what we want to make possible with the Hoffnungshaus: integration and a healthy, vibrant neighbourhood. We want to show that integration can succeed, and that it can do so within an attractive architectural setting.”

There will be information events throughout the construction project. We will announce these in good time. The planned handover of the building is at the end of 2026.

Award-winning inclusive housing concept
In a Hoffnungshaus, refugees and local residents live under one roof in an active community comprising families, couples and single people. The concept has already proven its worth at over ten locations in Baden-Württemberg. By early 2026, 37 buildings with around 260 apartments will have been completed.

For this model, the Hoffnungsträger Foundation received the Integration Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 2019, as well as awards in 2020 from the Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance and the Federal Agency for Civic Education. The architecture of the Hoffnungshäuser has also won several awards.

Image for free use, copyright notice: Hoffnungsträger Foundation.