Zollverein Cube Change this

Description Change this

The Zollverein Cube is a white cubic structure designed by the Japanese architectural duo SANAA and completed in 2006. It is located at the entrance of the Zeche Zollverein in Essen, Germany, before its closing in 1986, the biggest plant for mining hard coal. The Zeche is now a UNESCO heritage site. The original idea for the building stems from a masterplan by Rem Koolhaas/OMA which foresaw a landmark building a this location. The cube was designed for the Zollverein School of Management but the school went into liquidation only shortly after its foundation because it was not able to attract enough students. The construction for the building started in 2005 and it was completed a year later.

A striking feature of the building is the concentration of windows at two opposite corners southwest and northeast). Their placement is not determined by (purely) aesthetic reasons. It takes into account the spaces' planned functions (library, computer workstation, conference room, etc.) and need for natural height. Only then the positioning was refined slightly to enhance the composure of the facade. Window frames were omitted on the exterior to provide a clear and sobre impression. Like the windows, the doors to the outside are all square and unequal in size. To underline thr visual uniformity the doors do not stand out theis design similar to the windows, so that only gravel paths which lead to the building indicate their positions.

The cube's structure (35 x 35 x 34 meters) is straight forward and transparent. Recreation facilities, library and seminar rooms are are separated through different floors. The only consistent elements are three detached nuclei of different sizes and two steel beams necessary to reduce the span of the ceilings. The surface of the fifty centimeters thick, flat ceiling between the four outer walls, the three cores and the two supports never excedes sixteen meters. To reduce the ceiling dead load by 30% spherical hollow plastic bodies were used as reinforcement. All the technical equipment runs through the ceiling.

Another feature of the building is its active thermal insulation. A 3000 meter long system of water pipes is embedded in the concrete walls. Warm water, which has to pumped up from the mine every day to avoid flooding anyway, circulates in the pipes. The walls are warmed up not to heat the building, but for active thermal insulation.

In 2010, it was decided to adapt the building to be used as a part of the Folkwang Universität, the local university.

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