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Ooze: Visitors Centre

A temporary, colorful, visitors center was created by Ooze Architects for the Emscherkunst 2013 made of used containers, pallets, pebbles, flowers.

The temporary Visitors Center for EMSCHERKUNST.2013 and the Art Camp for local art associations were made from re-used oversea containers which housed the different programs.

By keeping the layout strictly on ground level and referring to a path through a village, not only the space inside matters, but also the various in-between spaces, sheltered by a roof or open-air.

Oozo 82 Architects, Emscherkunst.2013 Visitors Center

In this way a variety of social spaces are created while keeping the site fully permeable.
Along this path spanning from the visitors center to the art camp and connecting the Rhein-Herne canal to the Lindnerstrasse, different activities are plugged-in.

The journey through this village and the sequence of activities go from renting a bike, information, cafes, shop, cinema towards artist village with art production and education and finally reaching the artist in residence.

The path itself is defined by the different qualities of the ground: pallets, pebbles, gardens and flower fields. The roof shadows the containers, creates space sheltered from the elements underneath and offers a spatial chromatic experience.

Emscherkunst.2013 Visitors Center, Emscher Village, Oberhausen
Client: Emschergenossenschaft
Architect: Ooze Architects
Project team: Eva Pfannes, Sylvain Hartenberg, Augustin Roy-Verger
Structural Engineer: Reto Bonomo
Contractors: Steel: Leo Kok - Tiggelovend-Kok; Fabric: Gerrie Enninga – Zonlicht; Interior fitting, external wood works: Jasper Vandermade; Garden: Stefanie Strauß
Area: 1263 sqm
Date: June – October 2013