Dortmunder U

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Logo Dortmunder U
The eponymous "U" (2018)

The Dortmunder U , also known as the U-Tower , is a high-rise building built in 1926/1927 as the “fermentation and storage cellar” of the Dortmund Union Brewery on the western edge of Dortmund city center . The name is derived from the brewery's logo, which was placed on the main tower in 1968 and completely restored in 2008: a four-sided, nine-meter-high, gold-plated and illuminated "U" based on a design by the architect Ernst Neufert .

After the brewery's location was relocated in 1994, only the most famous building by Dortmund engineer and architect Emil Moog , which is a listed building , remained. The city ​​of Dortmund acquired the area in 2007 and had the previously vacant “Dortmunder U” converted into a center for art and creativity as a flagship project for the European Capital of Culture - RUHR.2010 . It houses the Ostwall Museum and the Hartware Medienkunstverein .

The founding director was Andreas Broeckmann , who moved to the University of Lüneburg in 2011. In 2017, the art scholar and general director of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, the Dutchman Edwin Jacobs , took over the management of the U, as well as the management of the Ostwall Museum, which is located in the U.

location

Location of the Dortmund U on Königswall

The Dortmunder U is located on the Leonie-Reygers -Terrasse, named after the founding director of the Museum Ostwall , which has also been in the U-Tower since 2010, between Rheinischenstraße and the tracks of the Dortmund Central Station. It is part of an art and culture mile along Dortmund's Königswalls, which extends from the German Football Museum to the Dortmund Concert Hall.

The Dortmund U can be reached on foot in 5 minutes from the main train station or via the U43, "Westentor" stop, with the Dortmund tram.

history

As a brewery building

The basement building of the Union brewery in 1966

The seven-story, 70-meter-high commercial building is structurally a high-rise. The complex, apparently the opposite of its vertical orientation, called a high-rise cellar, cold store and fermentation and storage cellar, was built according to plans by the Dortmund engineer and architect Emil Moog, who specializes in brewery buildings. After construction began in April 1926, the “brewery tower” was put into operation in the following year after only 14 months of construction. With the new production facility - the beer was still fermented in open, tiled tanks here - the brewery was also able to increase its output at its cramped location close to the city. In 1929 more than a million hectoliters of beer were produced for the first time. The Dortmunder Union Brewery was at times the largest brewery in West Germany.

The multi-part building was built as a reinforced concrete structure and stands on 40 pillars. The architectural signature is visible in the purely functional building in the two-tier, lattice-shaped structure on the main tower. According to research by the filmmaker Adolf Winkelmann , who installed his “Flying Pictures” in it after being converted into a “Center for Art and Creativity”, the architect had spotlights installed in the decorative supports that would have illuminated the functionless structure as a “light sculpture”. Since 1968, the four-fold, nine-meter-high, illuminated, golden “U” has been the logo of the large brewery for the lighthouse and landmark character of the building.

The skyscraper was part of an extensive building complex that was expanded and renewed many times over the course of its existence. After the brewery was relocated to Lütgendortmund , all the surrounding buildings were demolished. Brau & Brunnen built its new head office on the site, adjacent to the high-rise. After the takeover of Brau & Brunnen by the Radeberger Group , the office building was no longer needed and was sold to the City of Dortmund in February 2007 with the Dortmunder U and the surrounding wasteland for 25.5 million euros.

Conversion and reopening as a creative center

Stairwell
cathedral

In January 2008 it was decided to convert the building into a center for creative industries. The Dortmunder U was included as the Dortmund lighthouse project in the framework of RUHR.2010 - European Capital of Culture . On February 26, 2008, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia approved the renovation plans. The project was to cost a total of 46 million euros, 50% of which came from EU funds, 20% from funds from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and 30% from funds from the city of Dortmund.

The planning and execution of the conversion was carried out by the Dortmund architectural office Gerber Architekten under the overall management of Eckhard Gerber .

The front area of ​​the seven floors was broken through, so that an open vertical vertical art inside reveals the dimensions of the building to the visitor and gives access to the individual levels. The attached bay windows, on the west side over three floors, on the fourth floor as a so-called "VIP lounge" and in the north as a two-story library, provide additional natural light. A viewing terrace, gastronomy and event or exhibition rooms make a wide range of uses possible. A covered piazza will connect to the entrance area as a connection to the planned urban quarter.

As the first visible sign of the renovation, the landmark on the building was presented to the public on December 19, 2008. At 4:07 p.m., the Dortmunder U , which was now covered with 554 grams of gold leaf , was illuminated by the then Lord Mayor of Dortmund Gerhard Langemeyer and the architect Eckhard Gerber.

The building was partially opened on May 28, 2010 as part of the European Capital of Culture Ruhr.2010. Since problems arose in the roof and basement construction during the renovation of the historic building, only around 40 percent of the complex was finished when it opened.

The exhibition of the Ostwall Museum , which has been relocated to the U-Tower, has reopened on October 9, 2010, the top level with a 15 m high “cathedral” and restaurant has been open to visitors since December 18, 2010.

At the foot of the building, a new urban quarter is to develop along Rheinische Strasse, thanks to the creative impulses emanating from the building's users. In the east is the place of Buffalo , named after a twin city of Dortmund.

Overview of building use

Since May 2010, three stations of the installation Fliegende Bilder by Adolf Winkelmann have been shown in the Dortmunder U. The station at the top of the roof is the first station, called the U-Tower picture clock . Further stations of the flying pictures are the Ruhrpanoramen in the foyer (currently (2018) cannot be seen) and in the stairwell the art vertical nine windows in the vertical .

On the outside of the station on the roof crown, 1.7 million high-intensity outdoor LEDs are mounted on 6,000 LED slats (around 200 LEDs per slat) using technology specially designed for the U-tower show video art adapted to the day and hour. The light output is less intense at night than during the day. The picture clock on the roof crown runs daily from 6:00 a.m. to midnight. In the meantime, the current time can be seen on each page. Every day has its own motive. At sunset, the memories of the motifs of the last two days become apparent, as experience has shown that guests from outside the city can see the U-Tower at this time. Carrier pigeons appear on the hour from Monday to Friday, and white pigeons on weekends. At home games of Borussia Dortmund you can see black and yellow football figures. Special videos are played on special days (Christmas, victories of the Dortmund-based eighth oar, terrorist attacks, etc.). Two employees on the first floor of the U-Tower are busy monitoring and controlling the video installation around the clock. The city pays the electricity costs of around 80,000 euros annually.

level
use
Roof crown with video art by Adolf Winkelmann
7th Restaurant, roof terrace
6th Exhibition rooms without a fixed allocation
5
4 		Ostwall Museum
3 Hartware Medienkunstverein
2 Center for Cultural Education
1 Dortmund University of Applied Sciences : Central Research Institute for Moving Image Studies
Dortmund University of Technology : City Campus
0 European Center for Creative Economy (ECCE)
RWE Forum - cinema room for approx. 200 people
Foyer with installation Ruhrpanoramen

Exhibitions (selection)

  • Reserves of Longing - Hartware Medienkunstverein, 1998
  • Encounters - history and future of the Dortmunder U (opening May 8, 2010)
  • Agents & Provocateurs, Hartware Medienkunstverein, May 13th - July 18th 2010
  • Building Memory, Hartware Medienkunstverein, May 28 - August 15, 2010
  • Westend U, Technical University Dortmund / Cooperation with the Museum Ostwall , July 9th - September 19th, 2010
  • Trust, Hartware Medienkunstverein, July 31 - September 5, 2010
  • Fluxus - Art for EVERYONE !, Museum Ostwall , August 25, 2012 to January 6, 2013
  • Noah's Ark. About animals and humans in art, Museum Ostwall , November 15, 2014 to April 12, 2015
  • Dieter Roth : Nice shit. Dilettante masterpieces, Ostwall Museum , May 21 to August 28, 2016
  • Pink Floyd : Their Mortal Remains, September 16, 2018 to February 10, 2019

Technical data for the conversion

  • 798 tons of steel bars
  • 458 m² trapezoidal sheets
  • 412 steel profiles
  • 2.693 m³ of concrete
  • 480 km of cables
  • Demolition volume: 72,000 m³

gallery

  • in the background the U-tower still without the "U", 1966

  • Roof structure of the Dortmund "U"

  • Creation of a new city quarter

  • View from the foyer of the Harenberghaus

  • Animation Flying Pictures , 2010

panorama

and display information about the image
360 ° panorama from Königswall at night

Others

In the fictional parallel world of the photographed superhero webcomics Union of Heroes , the Dortmund U-Tower is the headquarters of the heroes. It was destroyed seven years ago by the Alliance of Evil and awaits its reopening at the beginning of the history of the Union of Heroes. The photos to celebrate the return of the Union of Heroes to their old place of work were produced during the actual opening of the U-Tower on December 18, 2010.

literature

  • Andreas Broeckmann: Dortmunder U - Center for Art and Creativity . Information brochure. Ed .: City of Dortmund, Regional Association Ruhr. 2010.
  • Karl-Peter Ellerbrock: The “Dortmunder U”. From a functional industrial building to a landmark of the Westphalian industrial culture. Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-402-12832-9 .
  • Adolf Winkelmann, Jost Krüger: Winkelmann's journey into the underground . Henselowsky Boschmann, Bottrop 2011, ISBN 978-3-942094-17-7 .

Web links

Commons : Dortmunder U  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Description of this sight on the route of industrial culturehttp: //vorlage.rik.test/~25~125211

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see list of architectural monuments in the Dortmund city district Innenstadt-West
  2. ↑ Homepage City of Dortmund: New director for the Dortmunder U: Edwin Jacobs comes from Utrecht - Council decides in autumn , accessed on December 28, 2016
  3. ↑ Exposed location with the best connections. ( Memento from July 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on dfb-fussballmuseum.de
  4. ↑ U. Bücholdt: Emil Moog (1873–1954). Engineer and / or architect. at www.kmkbuecholdt.de , last accessed on June 16, 2015
  5. ^ The secret of Dortmund U. In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of March 20, 2014, last accessed on April 5, 2014
  6. ↑ Oliver Volmerich: The Dortmund "U" lights up again. In: Ruhr-Nachrichten of December 19, 2008, last accessed on January 22, 2011
  7. ↑ Webcam on the Flying Pictures, 1st station / roof crown, outside U-tower picture clock
  8. ↑ Creator Adolf Winkelmann in the WAZ from March 16, 2018.
  9. ↑ Candan Bayram, Klaus-Peter Busse, Barbara Welzel (eds.): TU Dortmund in U. ATHENA-Verlag, Oberhausen 2015, ISBN 978-3-89896-600-9 .
  10. ↑ Andreas Broeckmann: Dortmunder U . Center for Art and Creativity (information brochure). Ed .: City of Dortmund and Regional Association Ruhr. 2010, p. 20 .
  11. ↑ Sequence from Union of Heroes, Episode 8 - The celebration for the reopening of the U-Tower.

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 54 ″  N , 7 ° 27 ′ 13 ″  E