Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
Development of the ruhr area
The Zollverein in the Ruhr district has lost its function as a major coalmine industry and today it has become a touristic attraction and it develops into a centre for design and the creative industry. Several institutes for design are at the Zollverein, such as the Designzentrum Westfalen and a choreographic centre. The Zollverein School of Management and Design is another major attractor in the area. There is an intellectual and physical network at the Zollverein that works as an important fundament for the development of this area. The start of the school was sponsored by the EU and the Westfalen district however, the school is a private institute. The building itself relates to the scale of the neighbouring industrial buildings, while on the same time creating a strong presence marking the entrance to the whole site. The building fuses the industrial past with its future of design and art.
cafetaria
ateliers
auditorium
exposition
library mediatheque
seen as one element responsible for the change from a centre of the production industry towards a network for the creative industry. ( Bruder, R., The Zollverein school of management )
Roofterrace
Offices
Research
Design studio
Interpretation of program
There is no formality or intention created through the interpretation of a program. A building by SANAA can be a school, museum or theatre. It is almost impossible to recognize the building typology from the exterior. The construction of the school is kept to a visible minimum. The loadbearing facades and cores together result in large spans, which allowed construction to be visibly, nearly non-existent and contributed to maximum flexibility. Inside the loadbearing facades an ingenious system of hot waterpipes is incorporated resulting in a thin slab of concrete with excellent isolating properties. The thin facades now give the building a light appearance although the facades are comprised of concrete. The facades are penetrated with square openings, allowing for views of the surroundings and for moderate natural light into the interiors. It is not obvious where the floors are from the outside.
The non-hierarchical spaces in the Zollverein are different per floor. On the ground level a glass wall separates the auditorium from the other functions. The floor with the design studios is horizontally as well as vertically flexible. The large height allowes for big installations and artworks. This floor has no internal separating elements. The office floor is designed as a courtyard. Rooms are centered around patios. However, the structure of this floor with its glass walls and patios does not divide.
3
private = employee private-collective = research collective = student public = visitors
1500 m2
designstudio
cafeteria-exhibition-auditorium
foyer
theatre/ auditorium
museum/ exposition
cafe/ restaurant
offices
laboratory/ atelier
parking
outside / roofterrace
The scale and shape of the building is derrived from the other buildings on the Zollverein area. The neighbouring buildings however, are completely outsized.
Circulation
Informal meeting and flexible spaces for exposition and the cafe (level 0)
Programmatic organization
The program for the Zollverein is organized in a compact way. The different functions are stacked and the physical distance between each function is minimal. The stacking allows the different functions to work independently. They can all be accessed by the cores. There is a clear order between the levels. It becomes more private every time you ascend a floor. The distance for the designstudio to the more public places as well as the research area is as short as possible because it is located inbetween the two. The position of the offices just above the library is equally usefull. Together with the open floorplans that allows the program mass to be compact the intelligent stacking makes the relations between the different functions very intense.
own character in another way. The position of the windows creates a specific relation between inside and outside. From the outside the faade gets a uniform character through the square windows and from the inside it frames the site. The size and intensity differs and creates a different character per floor. Three levels have horizontally one line of windows. At level 0 the openings are larger and appear more frequent. In this way it becomes transparent and opens up for the public. Level 3 is similar to level 0. Here it is more important that enough light can enter. At the officelevel the openings are smaller and together with the circulation along the faade this floor has a more introverted character. The relation between the officespaces becomes more important. The main source of light are the patios that are positioned more centrally. The designstudio on level 1 has the most windows. Here the faade almost dissolves at the corners. Vertically there are up to 3 openings. This frames or filters the outside in a complex way but allows also a view of the interior from the outside. The designschool is the most expressive part from the exterior, yet it does not loose its private character.
The scale and shape of the building is derrived from the other buildings on the Zollverein area. The neighbouring buildings however, are completely outsized.