Unbuilt
Creative visions in numerous designs and at prominent locations in Dortmund, which would certainly have fundamentally changed the city in terms of its aesthetics and function. What if all these designs had become reality?
Central Station
Königswall 14
44137 Dortmund
The aim of the design is to reorganize and systematize the station area and redefine the main entrance. Adjacent urban spaces and streets are to follow this idea. In addition, accessibility and circulation to the northern part of the city are to be accentuated. Different components to optimize these ideas characterize the design and are applied.
The gateway to the station is thematized. The vertically positioned stelae mark the entrance; they clearly show visitors and users the way into the station and are the station’s presence in the city. The steels marking the main station façade are both weather protection and a diffusion zone. The new station building with its differentiated uses on different levels requires a clear orientation towards the city center.The gateway to the station is thematized. The vertically positioned stelae mark the entrance; they clearly show visitors and users the way into the station and are the station’s presence in the city.The steels marking the main station façade are both weather protection and a diffusion zone. The new station building with its differentiated uses on different levels requires a clear orientation towards the city center. The pedestrian bridge with linear footbridge fulfills this requirement. Station users can use the footbridge to reach the important functional element of the station concourse directly.
A group of linearly organized structures as service buildings parallel to Königswall revitalize a site whose previous use as a bus station was rather subordinate. An elevation of the towers allows for continued use as a central bus station. A floating building block as a continuation of the station vestibule with a linear reference to the alignments of the Harenberg building consolidates the urban space and gives strength to the entire station layout. The north square also needs a clear structure in order to be able to clearly fulfill its function of providing access and a place to spend time. The “Vis-á-vis houses”, access, distribution and service buildings are clearly detached formally from the surrounding buildings and create a link to the south square through their materiality. All new structures and components are developed from basic geometric forms. These compact buildings are arranged parallel to the main traffic route on the south and north sides. On both sides of the station, they will be the prelude to the adjoining urban area. They thus play an important role in the pedestrian access to the station and the city. A group of linearly organized structures as service buildings parallel to the Königswall revitalize a site whose previous use as a bus station was rather subordinate. An elevation of the towers allows for continued use as a central bus station. A floating building block as a continuation of the station vestibule with a linear reference to the alignments of the Harenberg building consolidates the urban space and gives strength to the entire station layout. The north square also needs a clear structure in order to be able to clearly fulfill its function of providing access and a place to spend time. The “Vis-á-vis houses”, access, distribution and service buildings are clearly detached formally from the surrounding buildings and create a link to the south square through their materiality. All new structures and components are developed from basic geometric forms. These compact buildings are arranged parallel to the main traffic route on the south and north sides. On both sides of the station, they will be the prelude to the adjoining urban area. They thus play an important role in providing pedestrian access to the station and the city.
DFB Soccer museum
Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1
44137 Dortmund
2011 | Competition, 1. Prize
The roof of the museum will be created as an accessible terraced landscape – an urban play and experience landscape for soccer matches, spectators, city walkers, café terraces, sunbathing areas, etc. will be created: an arena on the museum in the city. The building combines 2 urban development potentials:
Symbolic value – a concise sign with identification power for both DFB and the city of Dortmund.
Functional value – the building’s user interface activates the building – in addition to its use as a museum – as a unique, lively location in the urban space: the museum plays an active role in city life.
The usable surface of the museum building creates added value for both the operator and the city. Functional value: the user interface of the building activates the building – in addition to the museum use – as a unique, lively place to stay in the urban space: the museum plays an active role in city life. The usable surface of the museum building creates added value for both the operator and the city. The stepped height development of the building, which rises and falls rhythmically along the Kulturmeile, creates a “landscape” that plays with the existing urban landscape. The museum is relatively low overall, reaching a building height of approx. 15.5 m with its uppermost terrace field and is thus significantly lower than the buildings on the edge of the city, which thus remains perceptible in its overall townscape effect.
In addition to its distinctiveness, the soccer museum should be a building for visitors from all walks of life, i.e. it should not create any fear of thresholds, but should instead have an inviting effect and be able to arouse interest. Hence the intention not to create a monument, but an instrument for the football-enthusiastic population of which one can be proud and with which one can identify.
City and Regional Library
Max-Von-Der-Grün Platz 1-3
44137 Dortmund
New and lively urbanity – the City and Regional Library creates an inspiring meeting place for the public at a central location. A harmoniously integrated water area and spacious lounge areas invite people to linger and relax and encourage encounters and exchanges in the heart of the city.
Waldpelz
Kampstraße – Brüderweg
44137 Dortmund
The Ruhr region, once characterized by coal mining and steel production, has been shrinking since the 1960s – not in terms of area, but in terms of population. Dortmund, the former trading center of the Hanseatic League, lost its medieval structure after the destruction of the war. Reconstruction followed the idea of establishing the city center as a retail and service center, with little living space and almost completely sealed surfaces. However, the concept of the city center as a “shopping mall” outlived its usefulness in the 1990s and is now being further undermined by online retail. The crisis of the city center “business model” now offers the opportunity to create new, small-scale residential structures there.
Westenhellweg, once a historic trade route, is now the central pedestrian zone for inner-city retail and runs west-east through the city center. Kampstraße, a traffic axis for the logistics of large department stores, runs parallel to it. Since the 1970s, the streetcar has been relocated underground and car traffic has been removed. What remains is a 50-100 meter wide corridor that cuts through the city centre but has no urban development qualities. The planned development as a “Boulevard Kampstraße” failed because Kampstraße had no economic prospects due to its logistics history and its proximity to Westenhellweg, which attracts all the stores and restaurants. We see this urban development crisis as an opportunity – a formidable empty space for better living spaces in the middle of the city – not a central park, but a forest with dense trees, soft soils that can absorb moisture and bind dust, shady places and open water areas, biodiversity, but above all a magical place. We propose to remove/extract an area of forest in the neighboring Sauerland with the contour of the Kampstrasse (footprint) and use it here, including the forest floor with its topography. Surface water is collected at selected points and can be experienced as small ponds. In the darkest places, “mythical creatures” await with their stories – 5m to 6m high sculptures by Ariane Koch. We call the concept “forest fur”.
Waldpelz
Kampstraße – Brüderweg
44137 Dortmund
The Ruhr region, once characterized by coal mining and steel production, has been shrinking since the 1960s – not in terms of area, but in terms of population. Dortmund, the former trading center of the Hanseatic League, lost its medieval structure after the destruction of the war. Reconstruction followed the idea of establishing the city center as a retail and service center, with little living space and almost completely sealed surfaces. However, the concept of the city center as a “shopping mall” outlived its usefulness in the 1990s and is now being further undermined by online retail. The crisis of the city center “business model” now offers the opportunity to create new, small-scale residential structures there.
Westenhellweg, once a historic trade route, is now the central pedestrian zone for inner-city retail and runs west-east through the city center. Kampstraße, a traffic axis for the logistics of large department stores, runs parallel to it. Since the 1970s, the streetcar has been relocated underground and car traffic has been removed. What remains is a 50-100 meter wide corridor that cuts through the city centre but has no urban development qualities. The planned development as a “Boulevard Kampstraße” failed because Kampstraße had no economic prospects due to its logistics history and its proximity to Westenhellweg, which attracts all the stores and restaurants. We see this urban development crisis as an opportunity – a formidable empty space for better living spaces in the middle of the city – not a central park, but a forest with dense trees, soft soils that can absorb moisture and bind dust, shady places and open water areas, biodiversity, but above all a magical place. We propose to remove/extract an area of forest in the neighboring Sauerland with the contour of the Kampstrasse (footprint) and use it here, including the forest floor with its topography. Surface water is collected at selected points and can be experienced as small ponds. In the darkest places, “mythical creatures” await with their stories – 5m to 6m high sculptures by Ariane Koch. We call the concept “forest fur”.
Westfalenforum
Kampstraße 37-39
44137 Dortmund
The era of inner-city shopping malls and shopping streets is coming to an end. New forms of retail and digital payment methods are making old-style shopping malls obsolete. This creates the opportunity to rediscover the city as a living space and give it back to the people. However, it is by no means possible to simply replace retail with living.
Urbanity is created through plurality – this includes mixed uses as well as different residential typologies that promote real neighborhoods and generate identification potential for one’s own “Kiez”. Sustainability, the lowest possible energy requirements, resource awareness from the limited building site to the selected building materials, mobility, etc. are self-evident aspects of the planning. However, the essential characteristic should be the creation of new places where people like to live.
ACCESSIBILITY – A group of buildings of different types with differentiated heights forms a new neighborhood. It is linked by public paths, alleyways and small squares – for access to the buildings, small-scale retail, eating and drinking or simply for spending time. The quarter is integrated into the overarching network of paths in the city center between the main train station, Westenhellweg and Marktplatz or Hansaplatz.
MIXED USE – The use of the buildings and floors will be mixed. Small, adaptable stores, cafés and restaurants will be created on the first floors, which can be extended to the first floor if required. Commercial uses will also dominate the first floor – offices, doctors and the like. The basement brings the buildings together under one floor and forms a continuous storey for parking spaces, technical rooms and other ancillary areas.
SUSTAINABILITY – The use of materials, an efficient energy concept, short distances, the multi-layered linking of individual private and public mobility, social and cultural acceptance and other sustainability aspects are developed from the outset in a multi-professional team and brought together in an overall concept. A key starting point for us is the conceptual integration of an accessible green backdrop. As a structural break, it separates the floors with commercial use from those with residential use. It runs through the buildings, the courtyards, becomes denser at selected edges, recesses or terraces and gathers as a roof garden with bridges connecting all the buildings – a multi-storey park designed for the residents of these buildings.