What are we going to do with all that space?

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Vacant lots, brownfields, abandoned industrial buildings - eyesore or untapped opportunity? Let's get creative and think about how these spaces and buildings can be reimagined.

Reimagining Spaces | IO4 | ACRIC

How it works...

Read through our examples and answer the questions about what happened to these industrial sites. Then click on SEND and look at your SCORE to see if your answers were correct and watch a video about the current state of the places. You may be surprised at what has happened to the sites.

What became of the Zollverein colliery?

The Zollverein colliery in Essen was in operation from 1851 to 1986 and was considered the largest and most modern hard coal mining facility in the world. During its total lifetime, a total of 240 million tonnes of coal were mined. 8,000 miners were employed above and below ground at the colliery. They worked in shifts. Until its closure, a total of more than 600,000 people worked there. Its closure also ended the history of the city of Essen as the largest mining city in Europe.

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Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Essen_Zeche_Zollverein_1992_img02.jpg

Today, Zeche Zollverein is a cultural and scientific location.

The Zollverein colliery was converted into a show mine.

Shortly after the closure, the site was destroyed.

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What happened to the conveyor bridge F60?

Lignite mining has been practised in Lusatia, a region in eastern Germany, for many years. Since 1958, conveyor bridges have been built for this purpose, which were uniform in their design and manufacture. The type designation F60 of this conveyor bridge describes the overburden removal height of 60 metres. In 1992, the Klettwitz-Nord opencast mine, where this conveyor bridge was only in operation for a total of 13 months, was closed for energy policy reasons. The conveyor bridge was no longer needed.

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Photo: A. Gutwein, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F60_in_Betrieb.jpg

The conveyor bridge was blown up.

Today, the conveyor bridge serves as a pedestrian bridge.

You can have dinner on the conveyor bridge.

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What will happen to the Beelitz Heilstätten building complex in the future?

South of Berlin, the lung sanatorium "Beelitz Heilstätten" was located on a 200-hectare site. From 1898 to 1930, up to 1,200 patients could be treated here. During the First and Second World Wars, the buildings served as a military hospital and sanatorium, and later a specialist clinic for lung diseases and tuberculosis was run in some of the buildings. These renovated building complexes are still in use today. However, most of the more than 60 buildings on the site have been empty since 2001. Decay and vandalism have taken their toll on the site.

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Photo: Alice12 via Pixabay

Investors bought the site, renovate it and create new living space.

Nature is allowed to reclaim the terrain.

Beelitz Heilstätten is used as a film set.

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What happens to such a large open space as the Tempelhofer Feld in the middle of Berlin?

Construction of Tempelhof Airport began in 1936. For the first time, the hangar and handling and administration facilities were housed in one building. Due to the airlift in 1948/1949, which supplied West Berlin during the blockade by the Soviet Union, the airport gained its historical significance worldwide. When Tegel Airport went into operation in 1975, Tempelhof Airport was initially closed and later only used by smaller aircraft. In 2008, operations were finally discontinued.

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Photo: hansbenn via Pixabay

New office buildings and flats were built on the old airfield.

The airport site remains largely unchanged and available for public use by the citizens of Berlin.

A new landscape park is being built.

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What was to happen to the rusting steel giant and the polluted industrial wasteland around Hüttenwerk Duisburg-Meiderich?

In 1901, August Thyssen began building a blast furnace plant in Meiderich. Until its closure in 1985, the Meiderich ironworks produced special types of pig iron, for example for the production of castings for mechanical engineering. In the 82 years of its existence, the Meiderich ironworks produced 37 million tonnes of pig iron.

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Photo: MichaelGaida via Pixabay

The industrial plant was sold to foreign investors.

The plant was demolished to prevent follow-up costs.

The plant was preserved as a landmark of the city.

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Let's go: Find a Lost Place in your city!

Take a look at the map of your city or go for a walk. Where are there lost places in your city that are nevertheless indispensably linked to the city's history?

First of all, try to find out as much information as possible about the building. What did it look like in the past, who worked here and on what? Talk to contemporary witnesses, archivists or employees of the city and the museum.

What could you imagine doing with the site? Collect ideas and exchange them with friends and family to work on proposals together. Look for inspiration in your region. Are there good examples of reused or "reimagined" industrial monuments?

Then find out if there are plans for the use of the site in your city and who the municipal contact is. With whom could you discuss your suggestions and ideas? Architects? City History Society? Office for urban planning? Find like-minded people to work out an idea together.

Thank you!

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