Portfolio - Markus von Dellingshausen

Visit Henrichshütte

Visitors / exhibition center
Project, 2005, Hattingen an der Ruhr, Germany

I worked on the project: 2005
My responsibilities: I developed the project by myself, during the time at Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Germany

A visitors’ center with exhibition space is planned for the giant cleared area of the former smeltery of Thyssen-Henrichshütte in the city center of Hattingen an der Ruhr. The specialness of this inner city void should be experienced with the aim of bringing the areas of the smeltery to new uses step-by-step.

The exposed and the hidden
At first glance, the area of the Henrichshütte expresses itself mainly by its emblematic objects and the large dimensions of its buildings. These “shine” into the distance, and coin the character of the site.
The area’s many layers of meaning are however hidden or encrypted. Apart from the actual physically hidden (the cellars and the inaccessible rooms), it is the historical and personal fate that clings to the site. Brownfields always are a special place of hidden dreams and hopes.

Raumwerk (roomworks)

The way into the interior of the Earth, into the depth of the memory will be taken. The dream should not be nostalgic, but should become a creative process, a fantasy. The Raumwerk is not a labyrinth, for the visitor will follow a circuit. The movement is a circular one around a core room in the middle of the structure until the deepest accessible point. Views and intersections of the rooms will create a world in the visitor’s head. The rooms open up and convert into an organic entity. While in all other areas only parts can be perceived, it is in the core room where the whole can be experienced.

Roofscape

At the surface, entrance buildings, elevator tower, rooflights and entrance ramps for pedestrians and bikers become visible and direct into the interior.