Lab.oratory
Lab.oratory, or simply 'the Lab', is a men-only fetish and sex club carved into the basement of the Berghain building in Berlin-Friedrichshain. It is the sleaziest, filthiest room in German nightlife, and it knows exactly what it is. The tone is set before you even walk in: a pitch-black corridor with "LAB.ORATORY" cut into the metal in red, leading into a maze of raw concrete, exposed pipes, steel cages, slings, and fuck tables.
Entrance and Door Rules
Address: Am Wriezener Bahnhof, 10243 Berlin (S-Bahn Ostbahnhof). Don't be an idiot and stand in the massive techno queue for Berghain. The Lab entrance is on the side - walk down the alley between the warehouses from Straße der Pariser Kommune, go to the absolute end, and turn left.
The club only operates Thursday through Sunday, and the door policy is ruthless about time: they only let people in for a strict two-hour window (usually 21:00-23:00 or 22:00-24:00). If you show up at 23:01, you are locked out. Once inside, you stay as long as you want, but there is no re-entry.
Entry is cheap, usually around €10-€18 depending on the night. Drinks are reasonably priced, and some Fridays run a 2-for-1 special. Bring cash. It is strictly men-only, with the very rare exception of a specific FLINTA night (called "SLIT") where cis men are banned.
Phones are aggressively taped over at the door. No photos, ever. They enforce this harder than anywhere else in Berlin; pull your phone out on the floor and you will be physically thrown out.
Play safe: condoms and lube are provided by the buckets and you are expected to use them. You check your clothes in a plastic bag at the garderobe, and they write a sharpie number on your arm so you can claim your pants later.
How the Nights Operate
The dress code is real, heavily enforced at the door, and dictates the theme of the night. If you don't match the code, you don't get in.
- Naked nights means exactly that: bare ass and balls, but keep your sneakers on because the floors get disgusting.
- GUMMI means strict rubber gear.
- Mask nights require a mask (if you don't have one, they sell cheap ones at the door).
- Other nights have no dress code at all.
The Regular Program:
- Thursdays: Naked Sex Party.
- Fridays: Friday Fuck (no dress code, sometimes 2-for-1 drinks) or Daddy Meets Twink.
- Weekends/Sundays: The hard fetish nights cycle through. GUMMI (rubber), Yellow Facts (piss play), Fausthouse (fisting), Sewer System (total pitch-black darkness), and Sportswear/Sneakersox.
- Throughout the year, they run massive combo parties like Naked Snax or the legendary FC Snax United party, which takes over both the Lab and Berghain floors - strictly sportswear, highly aggressive, and officially "no chems."
History Note: This isn't some Berghain novelty annexe. The Snax fetish parties were organized by Norbert Thormann and Michael Teufele back in the 1990s, giving them a permanent home as Lab.oratory in 1998. When their original club, Ostgut, closed and Berghain opened in 2004, the Lab was reborn underneath it in 2005 with more darkrooms and more equipment. It has been running there for two decades. Berghain gets the tourists; the Lab is the older institution.
What to Expect Inside
There is a bar, hard dirty techno pounding through the concrete, and a massive amount of fucking everywhere you look. Guys are getting railed on the raised platforms right in front of the bar, strapped into the cages, bent over in the darkrooms, and working the glory holes. The crowd is heavily international, mostly aged 30 to 45, and highly motivated.
The etiquette is flexible but it is not anarchy. You make eye contact, you nod before you grab a cock, and if a guy turns away or shakes his head, you back the fuck off immediately. The darkrooms are pitch black and exist for exactly what you imagine they do.
If you want a slick, well-lit, towel-wearing gay sauna, take a cab to Der Boiler. But if you want to be deep in an industrial basement at 4 AM, surrounded by sweaty strangers, with absolutely no clue where your clothes are, the Lab is unmatched anywhere on earth. Dress for the specific night, don't act shy at the door, and don't bother making breakfast plans for the next morning.
See Also
- Fetish | Kinky Guide | BDSM | Exhibitionism
- North America | South America | Europe | Africa | Asia | Oceania
