Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park A project as part of the IBA Emscherpark

The "International Building Exhibition Emscher Park" attempted to set standards in "building culture" for the ecological, economic and social restructuring of the former industrial region of the Ruhr with around 100 projects. The Duisburg Nord Landscape Park is one of these projects.



In 1985, the Duisburg - Meiderich steelworks ended production. In 1989, the city of Duisburg decided to transform the industrial wasteland into a park, which became a reality in 13 years as part of the IBA Emscher Park with the help of numerous citizens' groups and associations. It is one of over 100 projects with which the IBA set standards for a building culture for the ecological, economic and social conversion of the old industrial region in the northern Ruhr area.



The existing industrial structures were taken up, their fragments developed in a new syntax to form a new "landscape". Individual layers work independently of each other, are linked visually, functionally or even just ideally:

- the deeply incised water park,

- the railroad park with elevated promenades and bridges,

- the fields of vegetation, which are only extensively maintained in large areas,

- the promenades at street level, which connect formerly separate parts of the city,

- the Sinterpark with its fairground and horti conclusi in the ore bunkers

- and the blast furnace park with viewing platforms, rock gardens and squares in the heart of the complex
.


The open wastewater channel of the "Alte Emscher" was piped and transformed into a clear water channel with bridges and footbridges, fed by rainwater and pumped water. The canal, open channels, old and new pipes, biotopes in cooling troughs and clarifiers and the spectacular multi-bladed rotor on the Brechturm scaffolding are all part of a water system whose "natural" processes run according to ecological rules, but are initiated and maintained by technology.




In the Bahnpark, the lines of the tracks, the only truly continuous connections in the park, lead deep into the residential and working areas of the adjacent neighborhoods. Track harps appear as giant land art after targeted vegetation management.


Bridges connect separate parts of the park. Footbridges, built with elements of old steel bridges, run on old pillars and over the ore bunkers.

The sparse, colorful vegetation on the slag embankments, brought in with ore from all over the world, is protected by special vegetation management.



The demolition of the highly contaminated sintering plant created space for a large square, framed by bunker walls, a rail track, crushing plant and the scaffolding of the crane runway in front of the silhouette of the blast furnaces. Roof gardens cover contaminated material in the bunker pockets. Non-contaminated demolition waste was recycled into new building materials.



It was controversial to develop public spaces in the blast furnace plant. Today, the fear of toxic contamination has given way to a calm acceptance of the old structures. Visitors wander through the ruins of production, learn how to deal with them and use them according to their own ideas. Up to 50,000 people gather in the squares for festivals. A new history was created, a new understanding of the place developed and a different concept of garden art emerged.



The gigantic ore bunkers parallel to the blast furnaces, with their deep concrete chambers, mysterious dark rooms and corridors, occupied the imagination of the planners in various approaches. For cost reasons, the 2 - 3 m thick concrete walls could only be cut through and connected with ramps and walkways in one part of the bunkers. The northern part became a climbing garden for the Alpine Club.

The continuously usable mineral areas, meadows and gardens, footbridges and bridges and in parts accessible industrial buildings and ruins are open to all and a huge, safe playground in a dramatic setting.



"Within two decades, a disused steelworks has been transformed into a metropolitan oasis. The blast furnace backdrop, which has been photographed millions of times, is now a world-famous natural and cultural landscape and a top event location with around 250 events every year. With an average of one million visitors per year, the Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park is one of the most popular natural and cultural landscapes in North Rhine-Westphalia." (www.landschaftspark.de)

AppreciationGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2001

Jury verdict: The Duisburg North Landscape Park is a tribute to one of the most extraordinary projects of German landscape architecture in the 1990s. It already sets the standard for comparable tasks in the reinterpretation of industrial landscapes. Among other things, the sensitive and unique handling of historical layers as well as the integration of technical industrial structures and new plant images are to be emphasized.