Forum Confluentes

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Aerial photograph (2016)
The Forum Confluentes on the central square in Koblenz
The three entrances to the city library, the Romanticum and the Middle Rhine Museum in the Forum Confluentes
The elevator to the roof terrace in the Forum Confluentes
The roof terrace of the Forum Confluentes

The Forum Confluentes is a cultural building on the central square in Koblenz . Since 2013 it has housed the Middle Rhine Museum , the city ​​library , the Romanticum and the tourist information. Next to the culture building is the Forum Mittelrhein , an inner-city shopping center.

Central square

The central square is not a historically grown square in the old town , but was created after the Second World War as part of the rebuilding of the city of Koblenz. After the department store was closed in 1996, the central square was hardly visited by people and was neglected. The implementation of the development plans for a redesign dragged on due to resistance in the population and the disagreement in the Koblenz city council. The proponents of the "Forum Mittelrhein" project were ultimately able to prevail. Construction work began in August 2010, and the department store along with the underground car park has now also been demolished. The new central square is located between Forum Mittelrhein and Forum Confluentes and includes a 6,000 m² open space with a green island (390 m²) and a water feature (200 m²).

history

Due to the changes in the central square in the 1990s - a lot of commercial space was fallow, buildings were empty and there were vacant lots - the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Interior and Sports suggested a reorganization of the square for the first time in 2001. On January 30, 2003, the Koblenz city council established the redevelopment area “Central Square and Adjacent Areas”. Not only should the square itself be redesigned, but also the adjacent traffic areas. The city of Koblenz was able to buy up the site of the former Ernst Rodenwaldt Institute. At the end of 2005, the building complex was demolished, and at the end of 2007 work began on excavating the site.

In 2007, an architecture competition for the redesign of the square followed, which was won in March 2008 by the Benthem Crouwel architecture firm with its model of a “Forum Mittelrhein”. The model includes a mixed use of the central square by culture and retail. The plan called for construction to start in December 2008 and completion of the project in autumn 2010, in good time before the start of the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show . At the meeting of the Koblenz city council on March 6, 2008, all plans were put on hold due to differences of opinion ("Zentralplatzschlacht"), but it was decided to continue working with Benthem Crouwel. The following period was marked by controversial discussions among the population about the type of building. The "Forum Mittelrhein" or the creation of a park ("Casino Park") were up for debate . The question of whether the new building should become the property of the city or should only be rented by the city was also controversial.

The Koblenz city council decided on May 15, 2009 to implement the "Forum Mittelrhein" project on the central square and on June 24, 2010 issued the building permit . On July 1, 2010, the last contracts were signed between the city of Koblenz, ECE and Strabag Real Estate; the ownership structure and the financing had been clarified beforehand. Construction work started in August 2010. The shopping center was completed after a two-year construction period and opened on September 26, 2012.

In a naming competition in 2012 for the cultural building, a jury selected the name “K3 Kultur Forum Koblenz” from 500 citizens' suggestions. However, at the meeting on June 27, 2012, the city council did not agree with this decision and decided to name the cultural building “Forum Confluentes”. With the culture building, the city is solving a number of problems with the Middle Rhine Museum and the city library. The facilities, distributed over several locations, were neither barrier-free nor did they meet the fire protection regulations required today. Furthermore, the new building solved the existing space and presentation problems of the Middle Rhine Museum, because only a fraction of the valuable holdings of the municipal collection could be exhibited. The opening of the cultural building took place on June 20, 2013. The roof terrace had not yet been completed by the opening date and was only opened to visitors on August 9, 2013. The construction costs for the Forum Confluentes and the associated infrastructure amounted to 91.1 million euros. In the first year after it opened, around 500,000 people visited the cultural building. Of these, 24,000 visitors came to the Middle Rhine Museum, three times as many as at the old location, 340,000 visitors to the city library, a double that of 2012, and 102,000 to the Romanticum with the tourist information. The roof terrace was visited by 24,000 people.

Facilities

Middle Rhine Museum

The Middle Rhine Museum is an art museum in Koblenz. Before moving to the Forum Confluentes from 1965–2013 it was located in the old department store on Florinsmarkt in the old town . It has had to move 13 to 15 times since its inception, depending on the count. The city of Koblenz is responsible for this.

library

The City Library is the public library of the city of Koblenz. The central library, the children's and youth library and the music library / media library are located in the Forum Confluentes. It is the only library in Rhineland-Palatinate to maintain two book buses , a student book bus for the elementary schools and a “large book bus” for the city districts. There are also three district libraries in Horchheim , on the Pfaffendorfer Höhe and on the Karthauser .

Romanticum Koblenz

The Romanticum houses an interactive exhibition on the topic of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley . Visitors get on board a virtual steamship and experience a journey through the Middle Rhine Valley, which is known for its romantic Rhine . The city of Koblenz's tourist information center is also located here.

construction

The 32 m high cultural building has a usable area of ​​12,250 m² and is located at the northern end of the central square. The five-storey cultural hybrid offers a new space for the Middle Rhine Museum (2,500 m² + 425 m² for temporary exhibitions) and the city ​​library (approx. 4,500 m²) as well as for the Romanticum, a tourism center (1,350 m²) on the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley . This means that the city's cultural institutions, which were previously distributed across different buildings, are brought together in one central location and now enable barrier-free access. The building has a shared 550 m² foyer with atrium and a so-called culture café. A 1650 m² publicly accessible roof terrace can be reached via a glazed panoramic elevator or via the city library (5th floor) via a staircase.

Web links

Commons : Forum Confluentes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ News: Zentralplatz- Forum Mittelrhein in: koblenz.de
  2. ↑ The Middle Rhine Forum is open: Stroll through 80 shops on three floors in: Rhein-Zeitung , September 26, 2012
  3. ^ But not "K3": Kulturbau is called Forum Confluentes : in Rhein-Zeitung , June 28, 2012
  4. ↑ Now everyone in Koblenz can come: Kulturbau has opened in: Rhein-Zeitung , June 20, 2013
  5. ↑ Kulturbau: The roof terrace will open on Friday in: Rhein-Zeitung , 7 August 2013
  6. ↑ Forum in Koblenz costs 4.3 million euros less in: Rhein-Zeitung , December 5, 2013
  7. ^ City of Koblenz: Kulturbau attracts 500,000 visitors in the first year in: Rhein-Zeitung , June 20, 2014
  8. ↑ Brochure from the city of Koblenz on the new development of the central square (PDF; 9.5 MB)

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 31.7 "  N , 7 ° 35 ′ 46.4"  E