Centralstation (Darmstadt)
| Central station for electrical lighting | |||
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| Coordinates | 49 ° 52 '18 " N , 8 ° 39' 9" E | ||
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Germany Hessen
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| Start of operations | 1888 | ||
| Shutdown | 1915 | ||
The Centralstation is a cultural event location in downtown Darmstadt , which was set up in the building of a historical power plant , the "Centralstation for electrical lighting" .
history
Original usage
The Centralstation was built in its first form as early as 1888 as Darmstadt's first power station . The electrical engineering pioneer Erasmus Kittler from Darmstadt was also involved in the planning . The power plant was primarily used to supply electrical street lighting in downtown Darmstadt, the ducal court and the court theater, and from 1897 also the tram. The plant made Darmstadt, after New York and Berlin, the third city in the world with an extensive power supply.
From 1903 to 1905 the plant was expanded and a new boiler and machine house as well as new cooling plants were built. The architect was probably city planning officer Franz Frenay.
In 1915, the outdated central station was shut down and has served as a switchgear since then , which worked until 1976. After the HEAG administration moved to Kranichstein in 1977, a discussion began about the use of the two empty and listed former boiler and machine halls. In 1997, the city council of Darmstadt decided to use the so-called Hall A as a cultural facility.
Remodeling, renovation and reopening
The Borchers / Metzner / Kramar office was responsible for the renovation and the basic construction , while Kerstin Schultz and Ian Shaw from liquid were commissioned with the interior design of the Centralstation. While maintaining the character of the historical machine hall, three modern, but very different event rooms were created.
On March 25, 1999, the Centralstation was reopened in its current form. Since then, a diverse cultural program has been presented there: in addition to theater, readings, lectures and exhibitions, concerts and club events have been held. The musical spectrum ranges from rock, pop, hip-hop and jazz to world music and classical music. This wide range of events is used by around 300,000 visitors every year.
The over seven meter high, minimalist hall on the ground floor offers space for up to 1,200 guests on 450 m². A gallery on the 1st floor is accessible via a folded steel staircase. The lounge in the style of an American bar on the 2nd floor can also be reached from the hall and provides a clear view of the events taking place there thanks to the complete glazing towards the hall. On the 3rd floor there is a festive event hall for up to 450 people.
Events
Concerts by nationally and internationally known artists are primarily held in the Centralstation. Regular events include the presentation of the Ricarda Huch Prize by the City of Science Darmstadt , the Literary March and the autumn conference of the German Academy for Language and Poetry .
The Centralstation is also rented by corporate customers as an event location and used for congresses, meetings and celebrations. In addition to the cultural program, the Centralstation is also regularly open as a café and restaurant.
management
The private “Centralstation Kulturgesellschaft” organized the cultural work until March 2014. After the discussion, among other things, about the high grants, one of the two managing directors, Alexander Marschall, resigned from his post. A new company was founded in which the remaining managing director, Michael Bode-Böckenhauer, no longer had any function. The company was founded by the Science and Congress Center Darmstadt GmbH & Co. KG Darmstadtium (Congress Center) . Because the city also owns the darmstadtium, the city will in future be the indirect sole shareholder of the new Centralstation Veranstaltungs-GmbH. The city has an "appropriate influence", especially since the new GmbH will in future be part of the municipal investment management coordinated by Heag Holding. The seven-member supervisory board also includes Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch , treasurer André Schellenberg (CDU) and a HEAG board member.
Despite all of this, there were no restrictions on the variety of programs that is still there.
The managing directors of Centralstation Veranstaltungs-GmbH are Meike Heinigk and Lars Wöhler.
Web links
- Homepage
- History of the Centralstation
- Article about Erasmus Kittler and the Centralstation (PDF, 1.84 MiB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erasmus Kittler 1852-1929 - pioneer of modern electrical engineering. (No longer available online.) Association of electrical engineering, electronics and information technology , formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 28, 2011 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c From machine culture to culture machine. The history of the Centralstation for electrical lighting. (No longer available online.) Centralstation Darmstadt, archived from the original on February 15, 2012 ; Retrieved July 28, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Darmstadtium takes over Centralstation ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Echo Online January 23, 2014
- ↑ Darmstädter Echo, Darmstädter Cityzeitung, Thursday, March 26, 2015, p. 6
