A hall for everyone
The Eisenbahnhalle holds great opportunities for the city. Starting with a temporary interim use that can develop and grow cooperatively and dynamically, the hall has the great potential to later become the identity-forming nucleus in the newly emerging district - the communal center of the new residential quarter, where previously tried and tested uses can be consolidated.
Until then, the hall should be a space for many different ideas that are developed together with civil society. Ideally, a broad alliance of stakeholders will emerge during the initial trial phase, bringing together individuals as well as municipal and regional institutions. This could transform the hall into a place where the cultural, social and ecological aspects of the transformation of the future are developed experimentally and on an ongoing basis.
Eisenbahnhalle Halle Scenarios
Scenario 01: Creative Workshops / Co-Working
Scenario of creative workshop spaces together with co-working spaces created inside the Isenbahnhalle using the Shipping containers (approximately the size 6x2,5m per container) could be more of a temporary situation. The container site plan would work as a small “city” for creatives. Working with shipping containers gives us the possibility to grow the spaces naturally with the enquiry. On the other hand, the containers are always possible to deinstall and take away when needed. The workshops and co-working could take only a half of the hall (in its’ maximum built size) to leave space for other functions – weekend markets, exhibitions, conferences, concerts.
Scenario 02: Concert / Festival / Theater
This scenario needs especially the spaciousness of the hall to be able to host the visitors of cultural events such as concerts, festivals, theater plays of different sizes.
Good sound technologies and acoustics are another challenge for the size of the Isenbahnhalle. If such events should happen in the hall on a regular basis important for this scenario are especially the storage spaces to be able to store the different stages and different type of seating, pop-up walls, technic and structures.
Big advantage in this case is the site around the hall where other activities connected to the events could also take place. For example, in a case of a summer festival, the possibility is to use the hall rather as a storage and accommodation and keep the stages and activities outside.
Scenario 03: Exhibitions / Conferences / Markets
In our point of view, the scenarios of temporary exhibitions, conferences and weekend markets, are very flexible in terms of spacial and technological needs. To be able to achieve the variability of spaces ideal for each type of event we might need to work with pop-up or convertible walls and other separations. The need to create smaller spaces is very important. Another idea could be to use shipping containers or some pop-up kiosks for the markets.
Being able to host exhibitions and conferences in the Isenbahnhalle the requirement for high end technologies is quite high.
The size of the hall gives us the option to host different scenarios at once, therefore the mix of them will be also important in our design thinking.
General idea for reconstructing the hall is to also calculate with the site around it and to create better connection to the surrounding. As for example the Emscher river and the forest park around.
Ancillary rooms
The ancillary rooms are used for flexible use of the hall. They are permanently programmed and contain a reception, sanitary facilities and storage areas for seating, stage elements, acoustic panels, etc. There are also two rooms with a very special atmosphere that are simply meant to be fun - as a café and as a spa, chill-out zone or playground for children and adults.
