2019 Leah Stockburger - Center for Industrial Culture
Center for Port and Industrial Culture

At the end of the 18th century, industrial history was written in the Cologne district of Mülheim. Wherever engines and machines were made for the global concern Deutz, today is a creative hotspot. At the end of the 20th century, the town underwent a structural change: production sites were abandoned and industrial areas fell fallow. But due to the changes, old industrial traces of the place are blurred and factory buildings demolished.

Cultural uses such as a new center for port and industrial culture can create a culture of remembrance. The design focuses on the new building of the public building. In addition to its use as an exhibition and meeting place, it also hosts the local harbor office. In terms of content and function, the design thus creates a strong link to the formerly industrially used location.

The design stages the logistics of a factory building and translates this into the logistics of exhibits in the museum. The architecture itself is part of the exhibition. Visitors to the museum access the building via a long jetty in the outer space (production axis). The proposal is for a rectangular, elongated structure, which will be organized as a three-aisled complex with a building-high hall space in the middle. The lateral parts of the building are interpreted as shelves which are fed from the central hall via a crane system. Slidable bridges in the hall space allow the individual floor levels to be interconnected, resulting in a high degree of flexible use of the exhibition within the clear structure of the building. Accessible via a dock, the building also remains open outside opening hours. All constructive elements remain uncovered, from which the design should convey a strong identity and power.

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