Business and residential centre Inner Harbour

Duisburg

The 89-hectare inner harbour in Duisburg is home to mills and warehouse buildings. It borders two highways and has a harbour canal with direct access to the Rhine. Originally (from 900) built and used as a harbour area, the land eventually lost its purpose with the waning of the industrial age in the 1970s and 1980s. With the advent of the IBA Emscher Park, the harbour's most central area became part of a future project for the city. The goal was the waterfront development of a business and residential centre distinguished by its architectural quality in its conversion of historic harbour buildings and in its new and modern structures that are incorporated in an open-space design. Today, the site and its 40 separate projects attract nationwide interest and have become a trademark of the city.

The basis of the exemplary and integrated site redevelopment was a master plan from Foster + Partners of London, the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Development Company, THS GmbH and Kaiser Bautechnik Duisburg that resulted from an urban development competition. The northeastern area surrounding the old harbour canal is now dominated by a network of premium offices, service and gastronomic enterprises. On the south side, the mostly listed warehouse buildings were converted for office and cultural uses. A dam structure was built in this area to raise the water level in an artificial basin in order to create attractive promenades.

In a second phase, a new residential district was developed featuring many different styles of architecture. This area is connected to the basin through a system of canals. The Museum für Gegenwartskunst [‘Museum of Contemporary Art’] has moved into the ’Küppersmühle’ that was remodelled by Basel's Herzog & de Meuron. The former ‘Wehrhahnmühle’ was the home of the ATLANTIS Kindermuseum [ATLANTIS Children's Museum] from 1999 until 2007. The skyline of the old ’warehouse city’ was enhanced on the south side by the addition of new structures. One special feature is the mobile footbridge, designed by Schlaich Bergermann und Partner of Stuttgart, which spans the canal in the western part of the harbour: Tipping the bridge masts towards land transforms the walking surface into a semicircle allowing larger ships to pass under should they need to. This bridge is one of many outstanding footbridge designs that gives the Emscher landscape park a structural flair.

To the north of the footbridge sprawls the Five Boats office building whose water-oriented oval structure is reminiscent of a ship's hull. The Duisburg marina with its 133 moorings is located here. Another goal of the harbour development was the opening of the grounds for recreational purposes. A unique conception of a park along the historic city wall creates a connection to Duisburg's old town. A Jewish community centre (Zvi Hecker, Tel Aviv) and a senior citizen centre have been incorporated into the ’Garten der Erinnerungen’ [‘Garden of Memories’] designed by the landscape sculptor Dani Karavan. By incorporating fragments of former industrial buildings from the area, the park focuses on the history of the site as its theme while connecting classical park ideas to an art space. The western end of the public park is occupied by the Steiger Schwanentor, a pier for excursion boats that was designed by Foster + Partners of London and also within the framework of IBA.

Still to be realised is ’Eurogate’, the competence centre for structural change and renewable energy that was designated for the timber harbour. Also on hold are the expansion plans for the Küppersmühle Museum conceived by the office of Herzog & de Meuron in Basel.