Ruhr Tour Documentation Book
Stefan Gruber
July 26 - August 9 2018
Kai Gutschow
Christoph Eckrich
CONTENT 2 | eckrich
PREFACE Preface Essay
DOCUMENTATION ... 4-7
Nevigeser Wallfahrstdom
... 8-9
Cologne
... 10
Kolumba Museum
... 11
Ungers Residence
... 12
Christi Auferstehung
... 13
Schilling Architekten
... 14
Zentralmoshee
... 15
Neu St. Alban
... 16
Clouth Quartier
... 17
Oval Offices
... 18
Rheinboulevard
... 19
Garden Gallery
... 20
Bethanien Kinderdorf
... 21
Insel Hombroich
... 22-27
House For Musicians
... 23-31
Museum Abteiberg
... 32-33
Landshaftspark Duisberg-Nord
... 34
Medienhafen
... 35
Lehbruck Museum
... 36-39
Oval am Kaiserkai
... 40-43
CONCLUSION
Zeche Zollverein
... 44-45
Nevigeser Wallfahrtsdom
... 46-47
Acknowledgments
... 48
CONTENTS
RESEARCH
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PREFAC 4 | eckrich
I had a relatively unique perspective among the students in this course. I signed up not for an experience that was completely new and alien, but for one that I was already quite familiar and at home with. I had already visited several of the stops on our trip, but that did not prevent me from being consistently intrigued and impressed by what we saw. For the relatively small percentage of projects I thought I was already familiar with, I quickly found out that there was far more to know and understand than the surface level details I had picked up on my own years
before. I found this the most rewarding part of the trip, having the connections to people who were experts/ locals in the area makes an incredible difference to experiencing and understanding architectural projects/cities. This preface will outline the trends and ideas I saw running through the projects we saw, as well as summarize some of my personal reflections on the trip itself. The topic of reuse is incredibly relevant in this area of Germany. There are countless vestigial structures and land
conditions that must somehow be dealt with. Not that there aren’t any examples to the contrary, but overall it seems that Germany takes a much more widely sustainable approach than the United States to any of the re’s; reuse, recycling, re-purposing, renovating, etc. In America, we tend to fetishize the tabula rasa. There are certainly countless cultural factors that go into this decision, but it is widely apparent that the popular inclination is to tear down whatever was there before to make way for the new, the bigger, and the better.
a cabinet maker and carpenter – trained in Germany and working in the States – always says he wants to cry when he sees how they build houses in the Midwest. Building structures that are meant to stand for a long time allows for the opportunities and innovations a lot of these projects present. Beyond the Architectural implications the economic and ecological effects of taking this approach are undeniable.
Pittsburgh although to be honest comparatively very little. I am curious what the reasoning was of the developer of governments that came to the respective decisions to tear down or preserve these industrial landmarks. I think it has some relevance to the mentality discussed in the previous paragraph, however industrial architecture is typically by nature well-built and enduring. These projects were some of the most amazing moments of the trip, particularly because they are so unexpected. As an example, take the Gasometer Museum. This is a space that never would have
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A subset that was particularly relevant for our trip was Industrial Adaptation. We see some of this in
PREFACE
Germany, in particular perhaps the Ruhr Valley, would rather preserve as much of the old as possible. Perhaps this comes from a larger and more ingrained reverence for history, as Germany has existed for so much longer than the United States. Or perhaps from a wildly different understanding of space that comes from the significantly higher density of population. Most probably though, they do it because they were built so well in the first place. The difference in average craftsmanship or build quality between the two countries is staggering. My father, who is
PREFAC
existed as a museum, no sane architect would have designed a museum space with a single gallery that large. But due to its vestigial nature, this amazing place of creativity springs forth out of an otherwise useless object, creating an architectural experience that would otherwise have no reason to exist. The conversion of postindustrial landscape is equally as fascinating. The pollution and misuse create huge problems for the reuse of that land, and thereby generates extremely innovative solutions.
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Sites like the Landschaftspark in Duisburg or the slag heaps
that have become emblematic monuments of different towns are perhaps the best example of this, but what is equally as impressive is the way the urban fabric of the Ruhr Valley has also adapted to polluted land and water and industrial vestiges. The bounceback, like in Pittsburgh is truly incredible to witness. Essen and Bergisch Gladbach are two of the greenest cities in Germany. Implementations of keen urban planning including green and blue corridors have made waves economically, socially, and architecturally. The cities are another huge cultural difference that I think the United
States can learn from immensely. Factors of density, layout, zoning, and palimpsest factor in and create a completely different experience of urbanity. I find life in German cities to be somehow both old-fashioned in its principles and extremely contemporary in practice. Your quotidian takes on an entirely different character, which is more pleasant, more efficient, and healthier for body and soul. If there is one thing that will stick with me from spending the entire summer in Germany, it is the degree to which urban conditions can shape a way of life. It’s much more complex than an architect or planner can predict, but their influence is inexplicably entwined.
to a single place later in the trip. I tried to tackle a variety of types of drawing in my sketches even though they may all have a relatively similar character. The sketches are nearly entirely nonrealistic drawings, meaning either non-perspectival, diagrammatic, or faked, so to illustrate the realistic a nd material qualities of the projects I have also included quite a few of my own photographs. This documentation will not come close to conveying the experience of the projects within, but hopefully it can convey some of the ideas that I have taken away.
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The following sketches are organized in roughly chronological order. The first section breezes through some diagrammatic sketches and notes on one project per page, and the later sections spend several pages on a single project. Our trip itinerary tended to resemble that as well, it was packed at the beginning and eased out with more time dedicated
PREFACE
The Ruhr Tour was extremely enlightening. Seeing so many fantastic projects was a challenge though. I found myself struggling to both take in everything and draw or put my thoughts on paper in the limited time we had in most places. As you’ll see in the following sketches, the more intense drawing analysis comes towards the end where we had a slower pace and were able to take more time in each place. In huge complexes like the Zeche Zollverein, even spending a day there was barely enough; walking the entire day was barely enough to make it through 70%. My
solution was often to draw from memory, as I think often those sketches are even more telling of the impact of the project than ones done sitting in front of it.
Gottfried Bรถhm | Velbert
NEVIGESER WALLFAHRTSDO
Gottfried Bรถhm | Velbert
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NEVIGESER WALLFAHRTSDOM
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COLOGN
Peter Zumthor | Kรถln
KOLUMBA MUSEUM 11 | eckrich
O. M. Ungers | Kรถln
UNGERS RESIDENC
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Gottfried Bรถhm | Kรถln
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CHRISTI AUFERSTEHUNG
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Johannes Schilling | Kรถln
CHILLING ARCHITEKTE
Paul Bรถhm | Kรถln
ZENTRALMOSHEE 15 | eckrich
16 | eckrich Hans Schilling | Kรถln
NEU ST. ALBA
scheuvens + wachten | Kรถln
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CLOUTH QUARTIER
18 | eckrich Sauerbruch Hutton | Kรถln
OVAL OFFICE
PLANORAMA | Kรถln
RHEINBOULEVARD 19 | eckrich
20 | eckrich Sou Fujimoto | Kรถln
GARDEN GALLER
Gottfried Bรถhm | Bergisch Gladbach
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BETHANIEN KINDERDORF
22 | eckrich Erwin Heerich | Neuss
INSEL HOMBROIC
Erwin Heerich | Neuss
INSEL HOMBROICH 23 | eckrich
24 | eckrich Erwin Heerich | Neuss
INSEL HOMBROIC
Erwin Heerich | Neuss
INSEL HOMBROICH 25 | eckrich
26 | eckrich Erwin Heerich | Neuss
INSEL HOMBROIC
Erwin Heerich | Neuss
INSEL HOMBROICH 27 | eckrich
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Raimund Abraham | Neuss
HOUSE FOR MUSICIAN
Raimund Abraham | Neuss
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HOUSE FOR MUSICIANS
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Raimund Abraham | Neuss
HOUSE FOR MUSICIAN
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Hans Hollein | Mรถnchengladbach
MUSEUM ABTEIBER
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Hans Hollein | Mรถnchengladbach
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MUSEUM ABTEIBERG
Latz + Partner | Duisburg-Nord
LANDSCHAFTSPAR
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Düsseldorf
MEDIENHAFEN 35 | eckrich
Manfred Lehmbruck | Duisburg
LEHMBRUCK MUSEU
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Manfred Lehmbruck | Duisburg
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LEHMBRUCK MUSEUM
Manfred Lehmbruck | Duisburg
LEHMBRUCK MUSEU
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Manfred Lehmbruck | Duisburg
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LEHMBRUCK MUSEUM
Ingenhoven | Hamburg
OVAL AM KAISERKA
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Ingenhoven | Hamburg
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OVAL AM KAISERKAI
Ingenhoven | Hamburg
OVAL AM KAISERKA
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Ingenhoven | Hamburg
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OVAL AM KAISERKAI
RESEARC
ZECHE ZOLLVEREIN
FRITZ SCHUPP & MARTIN KREMMER, FOSTER+PARTNERS, SANAA, OMA, OPG & ULRICH RUCKREIM, PHANTOMBURO Gelsenkirchener Str. 181, 45309 Essen, 1932, 1992, 2006, 2010 Zeche Zollverein is a complicated site with a lengthy and intricate history. Once Europe’s largest coal mine, the Zeche Zollverein has undergone twenty five years worth of planning, construction, and renovation turning the once derelict buildings into a 100-hectacre history, culture, and design center. Contributions from Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, SANAA, and a collection of artists have transformed this industrial park into the landmark and destination it is today. The Zollverein is a model project, the collaborations of so many different organizations and the careful deliberate approach to the site and its context have created a ground breaking experiment that hopefully will inspire projects like this for years to come.
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Sky Bridges and entrance(source: OMA.eu)
Swimming pool/skating rink/ferris wheel (source: OMA.eu)
The first mine shafted was erected in 1847 by Duisburg-born industrialist Franz Haniel. By the 1930s the shafts had grown into a complex encompassing many different functions, now all housed in a collection of Bauhaus buildings by Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer. The buildings all survived World War II, quite surprising for industrial buildings of this scale and importance, as many others were destroyed during the war. This allowed for the eventual purchase of the historic buildings and designation as an UNESCO world heritage site in 2001. Norman Foster saw to the first important branch of work on the site. Foster writes about the project; “In an imaginative leap of faith, it was decided to reuse the site as a cultural center and to transform the old powerhouse - a masterpiece of industrial archaeology - into the home of an arts center for the promotion of contemporary design in Germany and abroad”. His design for the Red Dot Museum preserved the initial characteristics of the building, with a vocabulary of red-painted exposed-steel I-beams, and infill of industrial glazing and red brick. Much of the old machinery was kept as well, some of the boilers even hollowed out to create gallery spaces.
Zollverein School (source: SANAA)
OMA also designed the museum that now inhabits the former sorting plant. The program of the Ruhr Museum was added to the old building without removing any
During the realization of the OMA masterplan SANAA constructed a new building to house the Zollverein School of Management and Design. It is a 35 meter cube with square windows seemingly randomly perforating the sides. It used an innovative heating concept which tapped into the mines existing pumping system to draw water through a heat exchanger and through the 30cm thick facade. Red Dot Museum (source: Foster+Partners) The last piece of major note is the park that has been established on the former grounds of Pit XII. It was slated to become a dump for the city until artist Ulrich Rückriem placed some of his monumental granite block sculptures on the grounds, drawing attention to the value and potential of the space. The area was left much how it was, complete with old ash and slurry basins, terraced pits, and pioneer vegetation. Due to its interesting natural conditions the area makes for a unique park, one that was nearly passed over.
Materplans (source: OMA)
1. Ferguson, F. Talking Cities: The Micropolitics of Urban Space. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2006. 2. Parks: Grüne Frieräume in Europas Städten = Green Urban Spaces in European Cities. München: Callwey Verlag, 2002. 3. The Regionmaker RheinRuhrCity: Die Unentdeckte Metropole = the Hidden Metropolis. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2002.
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Alkemade, one of the partners that worked on the project writes: “Coming from the city, you cross this layer of modernity and enter an area where the scale, the function, and the history of the buildings is completely different. In that way you can combine existing and new without creating conflict in which they both lose their identity.” OMA was never focused on preserving the architecture and the buildings, instead they sought to preserve the meaning of the site. They saw the site as a motor, as a key point of gravity and identity to the Ruhr area. Their aim was to reprogram the site in a way which would both maintain the old buildings and give that function of a motor back to the area. The original architects Schupp and Kremmer wrote “We out to stop seeing industry’s huge buildings as foreign bodies in our own towns and landscapes and regard them as symbols of work, as monuments that every citizen should be proud” - a notion that OMA certainly took to heart.
of the existing machines that dominate the old building. You rise up an enormous escalator to the visitors center on the top floor, and trickle down the museum, mimicking the journey that millions of pieces of coal took in decades past.
RESEARCH
Perhaps the most important player in the revitalization of the Zollverein was OMA, who devised a masterplan for the transformation of the site into a regional center for arts and culture. Simply put, the masterplan consists of a ring around the historic site, much like a medieval city with all of its functions enclosed within an outer wall, and mimicking the ringstadt aspects Ruhr Museum Sections (source: OMA) of the entire Ruhr region. New infrastructure was developed to connect the site with the existing highway system, and the historical infrastructure (train tracks and sky bridges) of the plant was transformed into public space. Most of the new developments are housed along the ring, leaving the interior complex nearly untouched by new buildings.
RESEARC
NEVIGES PILGRIMAGE CHURCH GOTTFRIED BÖHM Elberfelder Str. 12, 42553 Velbert, 1968 Gottfried Böhm is tough to pin down. Building around the transitional period between modernism and post-modernism, using materials from a brutalist palette, and forms taking inspiration from Czech cubism and the crystal chain group, his architecture is largely in a world of its own. As it’s distinctly incorrect to characterize his style as post modernist, the best fit may be post-Bauhaus. While departing in many formal ways from the Bauhaus, Böhm brings along many of the principles inherent to the movement; a concept of rigor, clarity, and contemporary relevance in building.
Exterior (source: Dezeen)
Böhm comes from a long line of architects, all with a history of designing ecclesiastical buildings. He studied architecture and sculpture, the presence of the latter in the process of the former being particularly evident. He was awarded a Pritzker in 1986.
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Raev summarizes his guiding stylistic principles as “creating connections”, meaning Böhm has a particular focus on the complex interplay of material and immaterial components of a building, within its own natural and cultural context. He quotes Böhm as saying “I believe, that the future for architects does not lie so much in continuing to consume ever more areas of open countryside with building, but in mending and restoring order to existing towns and villages by creating links between functions, structures, materials, and so on”.
Interior, ceiling above nave (source: Laurian Ghinitoiu)
The Neviges Mariendom is widely regarded of as one of his most important buildings. At the time it was built it was the second largest church in the region, after only the cathedral in Cologne. In the seventh century a holy engraving of Mary was brought to Neviges, solidifying its stop on a famous pilgrimage route. Due to the dramatically increasing traffic in the 1960s the diocese sought to expand its capacity. They held two competitions for the design, Böhm was rejected during the first phase for his exaggerated
Böhm designed an entire complex, only part of which was ever realized. Due to budget restrictions the original program was cut, and so a bell tower, gathering hall, and further pilgrimage quarters remain unbuilt. The processional route and plaza were intended to be flanked on the other side by a similarly designed building to the one on the current east. Sectional Axon (source: Architectural Digest)
The church itself is a cast-in-place crystalline mountain (not reflecting the natural rolling hills of the surrounding Rhineland), towering above the rest of the old city. It is situated on top of a hill, the only competition entry which did so, as to place greater importance upon the destination at the end of the journey.
The culmination of this processional path is this case the altar itself. Upon reaching it ones eyes are diverted upwards. The walls and ceiling intentionally blend together, letting ones view flow smoothly from the altar itself to the incredible mosaic of light
The building was built before the long term strengths of concrete were tested, and it has needed quite a bit of maintenance. Some patchwork has been poorly done, leaving portions of concrete a different color than the original. Subsequently, the roof began to leak and was then covered with a sealant - destroying the outside ambiguity of wall/ roof.
Site Plan (source: Architectural Digest)
Sectional Sketches (source: Boehm, from Svetlozar Raev )
1.Boehm, Gottfried, Svetlozar Raev, Wolfgang Vomm, and Ulrich Weisner. Gottfried Böhm: Bauten Im Rhineland. BergischGladbach: Städtische Galerie-Villa Zanders, 1995. 2. Raev, Svetlozar. Gottfried Böhm: Lectures, Buildings, Projects: Vorträge, Bauten, Projekte. Stuttgart: K. Krämer, 1988. 3.Thorne, Martha, and Colin Amery. The Pritzker Architecture Prize: The First Twenty Years. New York: Harry N. Abrams in Association with the Art Institute of Chicago, 1999.
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The church and the surrounding grounds are conceived with a similar mentality. Particular focus lies upon the processional elements of the design. Böhm disregarded the rules of the competition and placed the entrance of the church nearly as far away from the train station as possible, choosing to create a long and dramatic finale for the pilgrims journey. This processional route leads to an open forecourt, and continues visually through the continuation of the Floor Plan (source: Architectural Digest) fan-shaped brick paving into the interior of the church. Additionally, the nave has been designed with the mentality of a public square; it has been fitted with street-lamp-like fixtures and is surrounded by facade-like galleries reaching up three stories.
above. The roof and facade are punctuated with light-wells and stained glass windows of the architects own design. The sharp edges and matte uncolored walls are perfect compliments, respectively the light’s paintbrushes and canvas.
RESEARCH
and manneristic design, but due to support from Cardinal Frings he was able to land the commission after the second competition.
CONCLUSIO 48 | eckrich
In conclusion, I would like to thank the professors and colleagues that made this all possible. As I mentioned before, there is nothing better than learning about a place from an expert. Wandering around alone would have still been interesting, but not nearly as fruitful or enlightening of an experience.