Housing Culture Trail
Blue House, Dortmund / Photo: Thorsten Schauz
"A guided tour with a difference". This could be the motto of the "Housing Culture Trail", which provides an unusual insight into the everyday lives of the residents of the Ruhr Metropolis - not only in terms of its architectural history, but also in terms of analysing and understanding the environment, the neighbourhood, the social structures - ultimately, the home itself and how it is designed and adapted.
Unlike most architectural tours, the "Housing Culture Trail" allows visitors to immerse themselves in the physical and social atmosphere of everyday life. Starting with the home itself and how it can be constructed, reshaped and adapted, the home environment, its position in the urban landscape, the density and mix of the local population, and embracing social structures and questions concerning the identity and symbolic significance of a way of life.
To do this, the guided tours vividly recall the history of home life from 1850 to the present day. A total of 60 home projects are on display, representing the four main themes of life in the Ruhr Metropolis: "Housing Estates", "Past and Present", "Urbanism" and "Demography". The home projects look at individual buildings, building conversions and housing estates from different eras and from different perspectives: from modern housing construction in the Duisburg Inner Harbour, transformational processes in the large housing estates (Tossehof in Gelsenkirchen, Hustadt in Bochum or Schillerpark in Oer-Erkenschwick, to name but a few), building conversions and the re-use of former industrial premises or the renovation and modernisation of historic buildings (Hattingen Old Town, Duisburg Bauhaus Karree), through to conceptual homes responding to demographic changes, such as the multi-generational "WohnreWir Tremonia" home project in Dortmund or the "Fliedner Village" project in Mülheim an der Ruhr.
These tours are geared towards a professional audience as well as the general public. The sites covered by the tours, which last three to four hours, are based around the gateway or "hub" cities of the Capital of Culture RUHR.2010: Duisburg, Oberhausen, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. During "Housing Culture Day" on 19 September and the "Housing Culture Summer" from August to October, additionally selected showhomes will be opened up to visitors along the tour routes.
all year
Ruhr Metropolis
Housing Culture Summer: August 1 - October 31, 2010
Inaugural event: August 1, 2010, 11:00
Closing event: October 31, 2010, 11:00
Housing Culture Day: September 19, 2010, 11:00 - 18:00
Free admission to "Housing Culture Day"
Partners: Büro STADTIDEE, Landesinitiative StadtBauKultur NRW, Arbeitskreis der Denkmalpfleger im Ruhrgebiet (Curators of Monuments in the Ruhr), Architektenkammer NRW (Architects Association), Local Authorities of the Ruhr, THS Wohnen, WIR -Wohnen im Revier
Sponsored by: MBV NRW, participating local authorities, NRW.BANK, ista International GmbH, Nationale Stadtentwicklungspolitik (National Urban Development Policy Agency), Cities of Bochum, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Hattingen
Main project sponsors: ista International GmbH
The Housing Culture Trail - the catalogue
The Housing Culture Trail / Cover: Office STADTIDEE / RUHR.2010
From a factory owner's villa to a gazebo, from a late nineteenth-century quarter to a contemporary residential project, from high-rise housing to a half-timbered house - the "Housing Culture Trail" provides visitors with a vivid experience of everyday life in the Ruhr region, with all its qualities and facets. This book documents examples of a housing culture that are as diverse and distinctive as the Ruhr region itself.
Büro STADTIDEE / RUHR.2010 GmbH
The Housing Culture Trail – Living in Ruhr Metropolis
24,95 EUR
Klartext-Verlagsges.; Auflage: 1., Auflage (April 2010)
Languange: English
ISBN 3837503860
You can find further information (in German) at:
www.routederwohnkultur.de
www.stadtidee.de