Last week­end we went for a tour to the Emscher­park, which is mean­der­ing between Duis­burg and Hamm, with an approx­i­mate length of 70 km (straight tra­jec­tory Duis­burg – Hamm). The objec­tive of this trip was to get a feel­ing how a huge and dis­persed park can work. We are work­ing on a sim­i­lar project in the greater London area at the moment for or office maxwan, which spon­sored this trip.

The con­cept of the Emscher Park aims at pre­serv­ing the indus­trial her­itage, weave a green-​blue net­work into Europe’s largest indus­trial area and add a new iden­tity as cul­ture and design centre to the defunc­tional coal and steel indus­trial areas.

An inter­dis­ci­pli­nary team devel­opd the plan over a period of 10 years. The first stage con­cluded with the open­ing of the Inter­na­tionale Bauausstel­lung Emscher­park (IBA), stage 2 (of 3) is in progress now.

The Park con­sists of sev­eral big attrac­tors as the Zeche Zol­lverein and the Land­schaftspark Duis­burg Nord com­bined with dis­tinc­tive parks. The best way to expe­ri­ence the park is to rent a bike and follow one of the des­ig­nated indus­trial tours. Guided tours through the former coal pro­duc­tion facil­i­ties are highly rec­om­mend­able as well.

Our per­sonal favourite was an indoor ski centre, an ugly infra­struc­ture (cam­ou­flag­ing itself as an alpine vil­lage) sneak­ing up a waste hill. You can use the ele­va­tor and just roll up, but don’t get caught.

See a full pic­ture seec­tion below or visit our recently added photo area (which is still a little bit rough).