Energy control center
The energy control center is an event center in Bremen's Überseestadt on “Am Speicher XI”. The name giver and the central building is the historic machine house of the Bremer Lagerhaus Gesellschaft (BLG). Together with the listed Speicher XI, it is one of the oldest preserved buildings from the early days of Bremen's Überseehafen.
history
The machine house was built in 1906 at the construction of Freihafen II (from 1938 Überseehafen) as a machine and accumulator building . The client was the building inspection for the free district and the Holzhafen, a predecessor of the port construction authority. The Bremen architect Ludwig Nause, who also built the administration building Hafen II and Speicher XI, was responsible for planning and implementation. The machine house was operated by the Bremer Lagerhaus Gesellschaft. It housed the entire energy supply for the mechanical operating systems of the overseas port, the quays and the crane systems.
layout
Architecturally, the machine house combines the functionality of an industrial building with historicizing elements that make it look "like a typical Wilhelminian-era factory with a representative street facade and brick ornamentation". The symmetry of the facade is canceled out by a massive, laterally offset main entrance that emphasizes the building's dual function. On the north side there were washrooms and social rooms for dock workers, workshops and offices. The central room on the south side is the 220 square meter generator hall. It extends over two floors. Arched windows and a band of skylights provided daylight lighting. The machine house has been rebuilt several times in its history of use. The historical, technical equipment is completely missing today. The outer facade has been changed by brickwork, openings and additions, but is almost completely preserved in the clinker brick.
use
When it went into operation in 1906, the machine house brought the new port area up to date with the latest technology. The crane systems of the Überseehafen were supplied with direct current of 440 volts, while the systems of the older Europahafen were still operated with pressurized water. Generators that were powered by motors in the basement of the building passed the electricity on. During the Second World War , the ports of Bremen were largely destroyed by the impact of bombs, but the engine house remained intact. With the approval of the Allies, the resumption of port handling was concentrated in this area. Here the freighters from the USA with aid deliveries could dock and be unloaded. With the exception of the loading cranes, the entire power supply was switched from direct current to three-phase current.
In 1949, BLG opened a model room in the expanded attic to demonstrate the development of Bremen's ports to state guests and other visitors. Parts of the electrically operated model systems are now in the German Maritime Museum . Wall paintings with harbor scenes and sayings have been preserved on site. From 1986 to 2005, a block-type thermal power station was housed in the machine house, which supplied the surrounding administration building with electricity and local heating. In 1999, BLG ended technical operations in the ports on the right bank of the Weser. In 2000, the Bremen Senate decided on the “Überseestadt” development concept, thereby setting the course for a change in the use of the harbor area. In 2005 the building was bought by the Bremen contractor Klaus Huebotter , renovated and, together with the BLG Forum, redesigned to become an energy control center.
Extensions
The building of the machine house was expanded several times and supplemented by buildings that served the technical operation of BLG. The motorization of the shed always required adjustments to the architecture and work processes.
Forklift hall (BLG forum)
As early as the 1920s, BLG was using electric carts to transport general cargo in the port. To accommodate the growing vehicle fleet, an electric cart shed was built behind the machine house in 1927, later a forklift shed. This included a workshop, cargo space and a garage. Today's forklift hall goes back to a building that was built in 1975 using a reinforced concrete frame construction based on a design by the Hamburg architects Pauenplanung. The hall was used for the care and maintenance of the forklifts used to transport goods in the port. The approximately 1,900 square meter room is illuminated by daylight thanks to a continuous band of steel windows. It can be approached from the north, west and east through sliding gates. In the course of the redesign in 2004, the technical installations were withdrawn to enable a multifunctional use of the hall as an event location. In 2007, the forklift hall was renamed the BLG Forum.
Administration building
Until 1998, BLG's technical operations department was located in the building at Cuxhavener Straße 3. The originally two-storey building from 1963 is built on a former protective bunker from 1942 and was extended in 1979. The switchboard was housed in an encased part of the building ("telephone bunker"). The transformer station (control room) is still intact. The rooms are now used by various service providers. A roofed courtyard area of around 90 square meters is located between the machine house and the administration building.
literature
- BremenPorts: Bremen - from Überseehafen to Überseestadt: Documentation, Bremen 2002
- Bremer Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft, Bodo Spranz (Ed.): Model room, Bremen 1957
- Klaus Schlottau, Daniel Tilgner: The Bremen Überseehafen, Bremen 2005
- Westphal und Partner: Playgrounds, energy control center and forklift hall, Bremen 2004
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nils Aschenbeck: The architecture of the Bremen ports: a guide to the most important structures in the Europahafen, Überseehafen, Grainehafen, Holz- and Farbrikenhafen, Werfthafen and Hohentorshafen . Edition Temmen, Bremen 1994, ISBN 978-3-86108-236-1 , p. 61 .
Coordinates: 53 ° 5 ′ 45 ″ N , 8 ° 46 ′ 19 ″ E