Tag: essen | ArchDaily

From Salt Factory to Art Museum: The Story Behind the Schaudepot in Essen, Germany

Camilla Ghisleni — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Once the largest coal mine in Europe, the Zollverein complex in Essen, Germany, has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past twenty-five years. What was once a landscape of abandoned industrial facilities is now a laboratory of contemporary architecture, featuring works by Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster, and SANAA. Their interventions bridge the site’s industrial past with its imagined future. Spanning 100 hectares, the UNESCO World Heritage site has become a global model of adaptive reuse, redefining what it means to preserve industrial heritage. Within this context stands the Ruhr Museum and its enigmatic art repository, the Schaudepot. Located in the complex’s former salt factory, the museum impresses not only with its collection but also with its architecture, which transforms a 1960s industrial building into a vibrant cultural venue.

Learning in Lindweiler / Sehw Architektur

Andreas Luco — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The extension to the Cologne-Lindweiler primary school, an open all-day school, was built in nine months using modular timber construction. Nine classes can now be accommodated at this location. The compact two-story structure with a light-colored facing brick façade and elongated wood-aluminum window elements responds to the existing school building with a calm and clear geometry.

Learning Landscapes under Roof Landscapes / Sehw Architektur

Anna Dumitru — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Sehw Architektur’s latest project once again exemplifies the three pillars of Sehw’s architecture. The new timber building in the existing ensemble impresses with its innovative approach, its sustainability, and the social added value it creates.

Daycare Center Kleine Quelle / Böll Architekten

Andreas Luco — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

The daycare center "Kleine Quelle" in Essen-Frillendorf was designed by Böll Architekten, the outdoor facilities in cooperation with the Planergruppe Oberhausen. The location of the KiTa on a busy road shaped the basic concept of a protective hand wrapping around the building.

Qville Ecological Co-Housing / B-architecten

Paula Pintos — Sat, 16 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0000

The former Quarantine stables, a listed monument in a natural and farmland area in Essen, were transformed into an ecological co-housing project. The original volumes of this historical site were restored, disappeared buildings rebuilt.

Gustav Heinemann Comprehensive School / Sehw Architektur

Pilar Caballero — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 04:00:00 +0000

The overall building volume of the Gustav Heinemann Comprehensive School in Essen was broken down into differentiated section. The stringent structure has resulted in clearly defined outdoor spaces on the school campus. The offset positioning of the individual building sections ensures a scaled integration into the urban context. The offset of the two southern building parts creates a clearly recognisable entrance zone, which, with its forecourt, represents the prelude and identity of the new school grounds.

Dortmannhof House / Sigurd Larsen

Valeria Silva — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:00:00 +0000

The Dortmannhof is a typical eighteenth century Hallenhaus, a common construction style from the region around Essen in western Germany. In a Hallenhaus, the familial living area and barn were brought together under one roof in a compact structure which could be up to five stories tall.

Community Centre Altenessen / Böll Architekten

Rayen Sagredo — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Our architectural concept interprets the new center as a place of community. The central space of the new building is a courtyard that is framed on three sides, which opens to the south and hence formulates an inviting gesture. The slight twisting of the floor plan from the given order refers to the church and opens a dialogue with the spiritual gathering place of the congregation. The clear shape of the floor plan and the sculptural roof landscape makes the community center a strong solitaire in the wide urban space of the Mallinckrodtplatz. It uses the stage given to demonstrate its importance in the urban realm as a place of the community next to its large neighbours the church and the hospital.

Shelter for the Homeless / RKW Architektur +

Rayen Sagredo — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 05:00:00 +0000

In Essen (Germany) the last two blocks of a homeless shelter were handed over to the users in 2018. The three clearly structured, parallel buildings characterised by exposed concrete and sky-blue glazed bricks are the result of an invitation to tender issued by the City of Essen.

SANAA's Zollverein School of Management and Design Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu

AD Editorial Team — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 16:15:00 +0000

SANAA's Zollverein School of Management and Design in Essen, Germany, is a perfect 35 meter-cube. The building's dominant presence, which is particularly striking amid its suburban context, extends to the interior spaces. The architects felt "that exceptional ceiling heights were appropriate for the educational spaces, particularly for the studio level that occupies an entire slab of the structure." Indeed, this production floor is "an unusually lofty and fully flexible space," enclosed only by the external structural walls. Photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has visited the building, which was completed in 2010, to capture a fresh view on this seminal project.

A Photographic Journey Through Zollverein: Post-Industrial Landscape Turned Machine-Age Playground

Gili Merin — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Derelict urban landscapes and abandoned spaces have always attracted adventurous explorers, searching for a peek into the world of a fallen industrial dystopia. That desire can be fulfilled by a visit to the Zollverein complex in Essen, Germany: once Europe’s largest coal mine, Zeche Zollverein was transformed over 25 years into an architectural paradise. Contributions by Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and SANAA are included in the 100-hectare park; overwhelming in its complexity, the estate includes rusty pipes, colossal coal ovens and tall chimneys, inviting over 500,000 people per day to gain an insight into the golden age of European heavy-industry.

Lukas Church Conversion / Böll Architekten

Daniel Sánchez — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Built in 1961, the Lukas Church has not been used by any congregation since 2008. The new owner opted for a mixed-use of the building offering a daycare center, doctors offices and apartments. The architects added several ceilings in an effort to create a more economic use of the space. In reminiscence of its original use, they developed stairwells covering the entire height of construction preserving the authentic stained glass windows of the church.

Q2, ThyssenKrupp Quarter Essen / JSWD Architekten + Chaix & Morel et Associés

Sebastian Jordana — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The ThyssenKrupp Quarter consists of a cluster of individual buildings embedded in a green, tree- studded carpet. Linked by short paths and small squares, the buildings line a central ordering axis comprising a large water basin and the “Avenue of the Worlds”. In addition to this general development plan, the TKQ architect consortium JSWD Architekten and Chaix & Morel paid particular attention to the architectural consistency of the individual buildings. The aim was to create a quarter with a compact and homogeneous architectural appearance conveying a strong sense of unity. The campus is dominated by intricate facade structures of metal and glass.

Q1, ThyssenKrupp Quarter Essen / JSWD Architekten + Chaix & Morel et Associés

Sebastian Jordana — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:01:00 +0000

Announcing its return to Essen, the principal, ThyssenKrupp AG, clearly turns its attention to the region where the technology giant has its roots. The company continues to write its history on the grounds of the former Fried. Krupp cast iron factory from 1811. Typologically, the new quarter follows the idea of campus architecture, an ensemble of various individual buildings on a “green carpet” with trees, connecting paths and small squares. Expectations were focused on a structure that would flexibly react to changes within the company. The Q1 building is the readily noticeable accent at the centre of the structure-providing main water axis.

Day Care ThyssenKrupp Quarter Essen / JSWD Architekten

Sebastian Jordana — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The „Miniapolis“ day care centre at the ThyssenKrupp Quarter has capacity for approx. 100 children in mixed age groups. The technical appeal of the building follows the requirements of education- focused "Reggio Pedagogy". In addition to promoting scientific and technical affinity this concept focuses on education in mathematical thinking, music, language and exercise. The centre point of the building features a two-storey "piazza". This village centre is surrounded by the six group rooms.

WAZ Media Office Headquarters Winning Proposal / AllesWirdGut

Alison Furuto — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:00:56 +0000

Austrian architectural office AllesWirdGut were recently commissioned to build the corporate headquarters of the international WAZ Media Group at their corporate home base in Essen, Germany. With a gross floor area of 36,000 sqm, the architects create a landmark and sustainable business model as shown in their future-oriented concept. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Folkwang Library / Max Dudler

Matheus Pereira — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:01:00 +0000

Folkwang University of the Arts is North Rhine Westphalia’s college of art and music. Its main campus is housed in the former Benedictine abbey of St. Ludgerus in Essen-Werden, situated in the southern Ruhr Valley. The small 8th century site was extended into a princely baroque residence in the 18th century, arranged around a magnificent courtyard (Cour d’honneur). The construction of the new library on the south side of the courtyard by the architect Max Dudler replaces a 19th century military hospital building demolished in 1969. In 2006 Max Dudler won the design competition organised by the Duisburg branch of the Building and Real Estate Management Authority, North Rhine Westphalia. The project was generously supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.

Museum Folkwang / David Chipperfield

Christopher Henry — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

“Ruhr.2010 - European Capital of Culture” is the name of the project with which Essen and the Ruhr are confronting changing times. The “Pott”, as the area is affectionately known in Germany, is shaking off its coal-and-steel-producing past and mutating into a “new-style polycentric cultural metropolis”. A high-flying objective. But one that nevertheless appears to be achievable - certainly as long as the route is paved with milestones like the new Museum Folkwang building inaugurated at the beginning of 2010.