Project site
Project
„A Step across the River Emscher“
The water junction of Castrop-Rauxel is one oft he most exciting places in the northern Ruhr Area. Here, at the junction of the Rhine-Herne-Canal and the Emscher, a renewal and re-design of city and landscape is being pursued.
Einer der spannendsten Orte im nördlichen Ruhrgebiet ist das Wasserkreuz Castrop-Rauxel. Hier, am Kreuzungspunkt von Rhein-Herne-Kanal und Emscher ist eine Neugestaltung von Stadt und Landschaft geplant.
1. Living at the Emscher
The Emscher flows through the north of the city and thereby crosses the Rhine-Herne-Canal below. It is planned to convert the Emscher into a clean, near-natural river system with new qualities of landscape, urbanism, environment and aesthetics. To both sides of a new designed riverbank new residential areas are to be designed in relation to the waterfront.
1. Wohnen an der Emscher
Durch den Norden der Stadt fließt die Emscher und unterquert dabei den Rhein-Herne-Kanal. Geplant ist, die Emscher zu einem sauberen, naturnah gestalteten Flusssystem mit neuen landschaftlichen, städtebaulichen, ökologischen und ästhetischen Qualitäten umzubauen. Links und rechts der Ufer entstehen neue Wohngebiete mit Bezug zum Wasser.
2. Canal swimming area
A further step across the Emscher and the Rhine-Herne-Canal leads to a third attractive site: A new Canal swimming area will provide alternative forms of using the watersite by contemporary leisure activities like a lawn for sunbathing and relaxing or beach volleyball fields. The entire area is made accessible by an attractive pedestrian- and clyclepath system and linked by several bridges.
2. Kanalschwimmbad
Ein weiterer Sprung in südwestlicher Richtung über Emscher und Rhein-Herne-Kanal führt zu einer dritten attraktiven Fläche: Das geplante Kanalschwimmbad wird mit zeitgemäßen Angeboten im Freizeitbereich wie einer Liegewiese oder Beachvolleyballfeldern eine neue Form der Wassernutzung bieten. Der gesamte Bereich wird von einem attraktivem Fuß- und Radwegesystem erschlossen und soll über Brücken miteinander vernetzt werden.
3. New Regional Urban and Landscape Landmark
The plan for a high quality place with an object of a high visibility, with high standards of architecture and urban design is to be developed at the junction of the Rhine-Herne-Canal and the Emscher. Conceivable is a larger work of art or a building, which offersviews into the land- and cityscape, information about the Emscher system, leisure activities and cultural events. The Theme: The River Emscher. A landmark to create, for the Ruhr region.
3. Neue regionale Stadt- und Landmarke
Der Plan für einen städtebaulich und architektonisch hochwertig gestalteten Platz an der Schnittstelle Rhein-Herne-Kanal und Emscher. Denkbar ist ein größeres Kunstwerk oder auch ein Gebäude mit einem Angebot über Informationen zum Emscher-System, mit Freizeitangeboten und Kulturveranstaltungen. Aufenthaltsqualität und Architektur treffen hier auf Technik. Eine Landmarke für das Ruhrgebiet.
Location
The project site includes one of the key locations of the re-naturation of the small river Emscher, which was turned from its original shape of natural meanders into an open sewer at the beginning of the 20th century in order to channel sewage from the evolving Ruhr area industrial region. The complete river with its lenght of around 70 kilometres was narrowed fixed by concrete stream channels to quarantee stable discharge of sewage waters. To enable ships to serve the factories, a paralell ship channel system was developed, connecting main cities of the region. Only at few locations the shipping channel system is crossing the previously channeled Emscher river. One such place is located in Heinichenburg Quater of the Castrop-Rauxel City, where both streams cross in a height difference of 15 metres.
With the end of the coal mining and heavy industry era, the Emscher river bank is now being returned into its natural form. As it was a man-made channel for more than a century, the restored river will never become a natural one any more. It is more a man designed natural form, which should to evoke a quality of natural space. The restoration of the river brings enormous impulses to ist surroundings – previously, as a stinky sewer, city quarters around were n good place to live. The city turned ist back to the river and the nearby quarters were marked by social disruptions, strenghtened heavily by the local economic comedown due to the diminishing industries. Moreover, the riverbank is struggling with stability problems, partly sinking up to 1,5 meters.
Stakeholder
The EMSCHERGENOSSENSCHAFT is one of the largest public water boards in Germany. In the more than 5 million inhabitants conurbation ranging from Dortmund City to Duisburg City it undertakes a diverse range of water management tasks such as wastewater treatment, ensuring draininage, flood protection and waterways maintenance.
It is responsible for the conversion of the Emscher open sewage system into a clean and natural river, the construction of the 50 km high-capacity underground sewer, and the renaturation of the previous open sewer surroundings into a connected system of landsacape and residential areas crossing the Ruhr area in a width which variates from some hundred meters to 10 kilometres on an absolute leght exceeding 70 kilometres from the Emscher River spring to the Rhine River, which is one of the largest West-European inshore waters.
The EMSCHERGENOSSENSCHAFT as the main LODE_PORT partners in 2012 invites students from all over the world to a concept proposal to redesign on eof the key areas of the so called „generation project“ of the Emscher river conversion.
Project task – A Revival Concept
Due to the river re-naturation program, the channel-river crossing shall be re-designed and changed into a natural boitope in a lenght of aprox. one kilometre. The landscape of the area is to be changed according to the desired technical water management of the Stakeholder. On the site, a new extraordinary landmark is to be proposed, marking the extraordinary regional importance of the crossing and offering aerial views on the landscape and cities in surroundungs. Additionally, a new pedestrian bridge is to be developed in order to connect residential areas with green leandscape in order to add live quality to the adjacent quarters. Along the river, a new pedestrian and bicycle road system is to be proposed. In adjacent areas, a new residential quarter is to be designed. The existing residential quarters are to be connected to the re-naturated Emscher river in order to profit from ist natural quality. An image change program, thematically embedded into the physical revival concept, should support the change of the site.