Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord
Wang Yueqi   May 04.2016

Introduction

In the Landscape Park Duisburg Nord extending over an area of about 180 hectares, nature, industrial heritage and a fascinating light installation combine to create a park landscape unlike any other in the world.

At the centre stands a disused ironworks whose old industrial facilities have today been put to a wide variety of uses. The huge buildings of the former ironworks have been equipped to cater for cultural and corporate functions; in an old gasometer Europe's biggest man-made diving centre has been created; alpine climbing gardens have been created in ore storage bunkers; in a former casting house a high ropes course has been set up; and an extinguished blast furnace has been modified to provide a viewing tower.

The Landscape Park is open throughout the year and with no time limitations. Entry to the park site is free.

Reason to Be Selected

The North Duisburg Landscape Park () is one of the northern Duisburg, established by German landscape architect Peter Latz and a partner in 1991 to understand the past industry, not to reject it. Its original site was a steel mill and a coal mine and steel industry, which caused serious pollution in the surrounding area. It was abandoned in 1985 and was used for agricultural land before the mid-19th century. 

The park design is closely integrated with its original purpose, interweaving the industrial heritage with the ecological green space. It was officially opened to the public in 1994. Peter Latz was therefore designed to win the first European Landscape Design Award in 2000.

The coal works on the site were first established in 1901 to take advantage of the fields of ore on the site. A blast furnace was built and from there a slow series of other coal and eventually iron and steel facilities were added down the decades until the site was a fully functioning plant complex. As demand for steel dipped in the later 20th century, the factory was eventually abandoned in the mid-80s leaving behind an ominous industrial hulk and immense amounts of pollution. However instead of blasting the land clean of the forsaken metal works, it was decided that the facilities would be refurbished and turned into a public park where the memory of the plant’s good work could live on and be appreciated by future generations - once the pollution was cleaned up that is. After extensive purging of the toxins that had poisoned the site and general refurbishment of the works, the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord was born.Many of the facilities were repurposed into such grand spaces such as a massive concert hall and even Europe’s largest indoor dive site. However what is likely most stunning to the casual visitor is the neon light show that appears after dark painting the otherwise hard-edged, grim site into a sort of sci-fi dystopia.

 



Lat: 51.5193
Lng: 6.75976
Type:
Region: Europe
Scale: City
Field: Landscape
City: Duisburg