Author: Kateřina Karbanová
Essen is the first and so far only city in Germany to host the Open House festival. It is located in the Ruhr area, in the west of Germany in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia. Behind the organization of the Open House Essen festival is the tiny but incredibly warm organizer Natalie. When I went to Essen in September 2024 for a volunteer exchange as part of the international project Open House Europe, I knew I was going to a much smaller festival than I was used to in Prague. The difference of the Essen festival, however, surprised me beyond measure. Natalie organizes the whole festival with the help of her partner Stephan. She explained to me with laughter that the only volunteers the festival officially has come from abroad. The buildings open mainly thanks to the staff of the buildings, or their owners, who provide tours of the buildings. Natalie and Stephan have managed to open around twenty buildings in the program, while at the same time preparing a conceptually connected and incredibly interesting program. This year they focused particularly on the topic of transformation. Most of the open buildings originally served a different purpose than they do today. Such a program inevitably led the visitor to reflect on the sustainability of architecture.
Natalie prepared an exhaustive program for us, in which she tried to show us the maximum of the external and internal face of her festival. I must admit that it was only in Essen that I fully discovered the aesthetics of industrial architecture and was blown away by the creative uses of all the buildings that were originally used for coal processing. Coal mining ended during the 1980s and since then the local industrial areas have been undergoing a gradual transformation. The Zollverein industrial complex we visited has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001 thanks to its uniquely preserved architecture. Since the end of mining, this complex of mining sites has been preserved and transformed into a publicly accessible space full of greenery and cultural use. Today it houses several cafes and bars, a museum, a dance studio, and many other businesses.
As a student of history, what I found extremely interesting was the unique archive of Das Schaudepot des Ruhr Museums located in the former coking plant of the industrial complex. On three floors, it houses natural monuments, various fossils as well as rich catalogues of historical furniture, porcelain, and everyday objects. Therefore, the Ruhr Museum manages to archive its collections efficiently while still being accessible to the public. All this in a building that was originally built to support heavy machinery on several floors. Today these structures carry cabinets of exhibits. The archive was open as part of the festival and both tours, led directly by the archivist, were fully booked.
Another place I visited during the festival was the Jugendamt Essen Katernberg social center in a building originally intended for the miners’ wives. This historically significant building now houses a social and community center with activities for the children of Essen’s new residents. These children often face social exclusion and language barriers. As part of the opening of their center, the children also prepared a small exhibition of their photographic collages. The theme was the city of Essen itself and what they found most beautiful about their city. This included a short tour of the exterior and then the opening itself.
At the end of the day we took part in a public debate in the interior Heilig-Geist-Kirche, a former church that has been relatively recently deconsecrated. As part of the festival, there was a vernissage of studies of different possibilities for new uses of church buildings.I liked the extent to which the organizers managed to involve the local community. In all the buildings I visited, I saw locals talking to the staff or even to each other and sharing their views and ideas. I think that’s where our festivals are very similar.
We stuck to the theme of transformation on Sunday as well, when we went on a bus ride to more distant places with architect and ambassador of the Essen festival Peter Brdenek. Peter showed us four interesting sites that were originally associated with coal mining. What I found interesting, for example, was a project calle Wohnsiedlung Küppersbusch from the 1980s on the site of the former factory premises. The whole site has been redeveloped and is now used as an eco-housing project.
Another interesting place that we visited during Peter’s tour was the so-called black spoil heap, which was created by piling up soil that was extracted during coal mining. There are several such heaps in the Ruhr area. Their use is difficult because the soil is not very fertile and the slopes are too steep. The heaps are therefore transformed into very specific parks that can be used by locals for recreation. Artworks have also been placed on top of each heap, usually commemorating the heritage of the mining. A visit to such a vegetation-free heap that towers over a landscape full of chimneys makes you think about what man is doing to nature and how much power he has to change the landscape. If you are ever in the Essen area, I definitely recommend you climb at least one of these.
In the afternoon, we moved with the other volunteers to the last stop of the day. These were the studios of local artists that were created in the original space of a woodworking shop. As well as hosting upcycling workshops and piano performances, visitors were able to peek inside the studios and have a few words with the local artists. The common denominator was the friendly networking between different local communities and the overall friendly atmosphere.
The volunteer exchange is part of the Open House Europe project.
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