Zur Standardausstattung gehörten ebenso Läden und gastronomische Einrichtungen, denen im Thälmann-Park eine besondere Bedeutung beigemessen wurde. Diese wurden größtenteils in sogenannten Funktionsanlagerungen eingerichtet. Die pavillonartigen Vorbauten an den Wohnzeilen der WBS 70, ebenfalls als Typenbauten errichtet, sollten nicht nur die Bewohner*innen der Siedlung versorgen, sondern dienten zugleich als Aushängeschild und Anziehungspunkt für Besucher*innen der Anlage. Weitere Geschäfte fanden Platz in den Erdgeschosszonen der Wohnhochhäuser.

Zu einem ähnlichen Anziehungspunkt wurden die vier erhaltenen Gaswerksbauten an der Dimitroffstraße (Danziger Straße). Die rekonstruierten Klinkerbauten sollten zum politisch-kulturellen Leben des neuen Wohnkomplexes und des Bezirkes beitragen.

So entstanden in den ehemaligen Labor- und Verwaltungsgebäuden diverse Atelier-, Werkstatt- und Veranstaltungsräume. Ein neuer Mehrzwecksaal diente zudem Veranstaltungen lokaler Gruppen politischer Organisationen. Eine weitere ideologische Komponente, als Ergänzung zum Denkmal, bildete das Thälmann- oder Traditionskabinett, das mit einer Ausstellung über Ernst Thälmann und die Geschichte des antifaschistischen Widerstandskampfes im Stadtbezirk zwischen 1933 und 1945 informierte.

Noch heute sind Kultureinrichtungen wie die WABE oder das Theater unterm Dach feste Bestandteile des kulturellen Lebens in Prenzlauer Berg.

Kapitel der Ausstellung

Public and cultural facilities

In the GDR new residential complexes were usually provided with public facilities. As a conceptual element of the socialist residential complex, they were meant to contribute to the material, cultural, and technical satisfaction of the population. The facilities were supposed to have a great influence on the living quality in the respective area and the communal life in the socialist society. For settlements as great as Thälmann-Park with its ca. 4,000 inhabitants there were concrete guidelines for the siting, size, and furnishing of the community facilities. According to these guidelines a poly-technical high school, a gym, a combined kindergarten and day nursery, and a swimming bath were erected, all of them being type constructions.

Part of the standard features were also shops and gastronomic facilities to whom weight was given in Thälmann-Park. Most of them were located in functional buildings attached to the WBS 70 towers. These pavillon-like front buildings were likewise type constructions and were not only meant to supply the residents but also to serve as showpieces and attractions for visitors of the site.

Four buildings on Dimitroffstraße (Danziger Straße), which had belonged to the gasworks and were preserved, became a similar attraction. These reconstructed brick buildings were supposed to contribute to the political and cultural life of the new residential complex and the district.

Thus, in the former laboratories and administrative buildings lots of ateliers, workshops, and rooms for events emerged. Furthermore a new multi-purpose hall was used by local groups of political organizations. Another ideological component, in addition to the memorial, was the Thälmann or tradition cabinet where an exhibition informed about Ernst Thälmann and the history of the antifascist resistance in the local district between 1933 and 1945.

Cutural facilities such as WABE or Theater unterm Dach are still inherent parts of the cultural life of Prenzlauer Berg.