Immermannstrasse depot

Logo of the Depot eV

The Immermannstrasse depot is a former tram workshop of the Dortmunder Stadtwerke in Dortmund . The listed building at Fredenbaumpark serves today as an art and cultural center and is part of the route of industrial culture .

history

View of Immermannstrasse at the entrance to the former tram workshop (1972)

After the changeover of the Dortmund tram from horse tram to electric operation, the new vehicles needed a place to park. After the city of Dortmund acquired the transport company and made local public transport a municipal task, a car hall and an administration building were built not far from the first line. Another car shed was built here later and in 1915 and 1916 the central workshop of the Dortmund tram was built by the architects Karl Pinno and Philipp Bachmann.

Virtually undamaged by two world wars, the workshop represented part of the urban infrastructure and is a contemporary document of the architectural development of industrial construction at the end of the 19th century. Although the depot of the Dortmunder Stadtwerke was closed in 1973, the workshop remained in operation until 1996. After the final abandonment of the building by the Dortmund municipal utilities, a new usage concept was sought and found with the cultural initiative Depot Dortmund, a center for handicrafts, art, media and the neighborhood.

The building

Depot.Kulturort, frontal view

The largely single-storey building with a neoclassical brick facade is 87 meters long and 89 meters deep. The central part is a hall 89 m long, 15 m wide and around 10 m high in the ridge, in which the transfer platform was located, which was used to transport the trams to the various workshops. The main roof of the central hall is supported by a filigree steel framework construction with a drawstring ; this rare support system made of double angles can no longer be found in today's construction methods and is one of the reasons why the building was entered as a monument in the list of monuments of the city of Dortmund in 1990. The renovation to today's cultural location Depot took place in the years 1997-2001, whereby the original construction elements remained visible everywhere and were incorporated into the new architectural and spatial concept.

Project depot

Interior view of the large central hall in the Immermannstrasse depot

In 1995 the members of the Kulturwerkstatt Depot in Kleverstrasse, Dortmund, together with other interested parties, founded the "Association for the Promotion of Cooperation between Artists and Craftsmen from Different Trades eV", renamed "Depot eV" a little later. The purpose of the association was to rent the former tram workshop of the Dortmunder Stadtwerke and convert it into a cultural center. In this way, the building, which could no longer be used for its former purpose, could be preserved and filled with new life. Negotiations were held with the Ministry of Urban Development, Culture and Sport about funding the project as part of the urban development program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state government approved a total of 6.5 million DM for the renovation, conversion and expansion of the depot building and 1.2 million DM for the promotion of project development in the first 5 years. The members of the Association Depot had to contribute for 550,000 DM. The architects for the renovation were Depot members Arno Schneider and Jens Kaulisch.

In 1996 the project was accepted by the International Building Exhibition (IBA). For the further development of the project, three workshop discussions, moderated by the IBA and supported by experts, were agreed with the participation of the state, district government, municipal utilities as building owners and the city of Dortmund. On the basis of a concrete project concept, a financing framework, a funding concept and the time frame for project development were worked out. In 1996 the first users moved into the temporary building in Immermannstrasse. In 1998, the city of Dortmund won a state award for sustainable urban development with the depot project. The prize money was used to renew the ailing north facade of the large central hall. The gable wall was glazed under the heading “Light into the depot”, thus opening up a view of the green space of the Fredenbaumpark. In order to give the repair of the depot building an ecological dimension despite the scarce funds, the Depot eV participated in 1999 in the Emschergenossenschaft's national tender "Route des Regenwassers". The project included the roof drainage, the installation of drainage basins, the conversion of the existing old oil tanks, the installation of a service water network, the greening of the outdoor facilities, a pond and a water feature. Through the use of process water and the saving of fees, this project contributes to a long-term reduction of your own operating costs. In 2001 the depot was opened with a two-day cultural event under the motto: “Ready and Ready”.

Depot, cultural location

Crowds of visitors in front of the depot

Since 2001 there have been around 40 individuals, companies, associations and offices in the depot. Architects, designers, lecturers, photographers, graphic artists, visual and performing artists work here. In addition to many artist studios, there is the theater in the depot , the sweetSixteen cinema, a gallery, offices and restaurants. Markets, fairs, dance performances, exhibitions, workshops and other events take place regularly. The depot is, among other things, the venue for the extra shift and reading place for the Mord am Hellweg literature festival . The unusual architecture of the building also provides the framework for other uses. Rooms for receptions, gala dinners, congresses, meetings and day events can be rented for up to 750 people. The depot is largely barrier-free. An exception are a few studios on the first floor that do not have a lift. A disabled toilet is available. Depot eV is a member of the Nordstadt cultural mile, LAG Soziokultur NRW.

Web links

Commons : Depot Immermannstraße  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dortmund depot
• Description of this sight on the route of industrial culturehttp: //vorlage.rik.test/~6~10642

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in the list of monuments of the city of Dortmund. Here: Annex to the decision of October 23, 1990
2. ↑ No. A 0403. List of monuments of the city of Dortmund. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: dortmund.de - Das Dortmunder Stadtportal. Monument Authority of the City of Dortmund, April 14, 2014, archived from the original on September 15, 2014 ; accessed on June 10, 2014 (size: 180 kB). 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.  

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 ′ 58 ″  N , 7 ° 27 ′ 10 ″  E