Nordsternpark Gewerbe

Gelsenkirchen

Recreational and commercial land use merge seamlessly together in the area around the two former Nordsternpark winding towers. Following the 1997 Bundesgartenschau [Federal Horticultural Show], a landscape park as well as an integrated industrial park, which includes a multi-storey car park, have been developed on the 100-hectare site of the former Nordstern coal mine.

Critical to the area are the office buildings of the residential real estate company THS Wohnen GmbH, which were integrated into the mine’s former screening plant, and a new building (1997) for the former pharmacy corporation Sinnrad, which has since become home to the Bundesknappschaft [Federal Miners' Insurance Institution]. An essential task during construction of the THS headquarters was the preservation of the collection of listed buildings designed by Fritz Schupp and erected in 1926 for the Nordstern mine.

A top-quality structural cladding encases the steel skeleton of the building once used as a temporary and multifunctional building. After an extensive gutting of the central access hall, the former warehouse was converted to include stairs, glass elevators and sanitation facilities. In addition, there is now space for exhibitions and cultural events. The three upper floors are reserved as office space.

The reconstruction contributed considerably to the complete transformation of the former mine building. The back of the THS headquarters building, with the integrated winding towers, borders the former power house that was originally intended to be part of a residential project. The 98 m by 22 m building was torn down apart from the historically protected steel latticework façade and gutted to its foundation with the exception of the steel-frame construction. The façade is held up today by a support structure.

A trade and service centre has moved into the neighbouring building of the former factory and cabinet-making workshop. The THS headquarters building and the Spinnrad building together define the Nordsternplatz that originally functioned as the central area of the Bundesgartenschau. Roads lead directly from here to the eastern part and over the Emscher and Rhein-Herne canals to the landscape park grounds.
Nordsternpark is both a large-scale project and a link along the green route from Emscher Landscape Park to the districts of Gelsenkirchen.