Ooze: Visitors Centre

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

Ooze 82: Visitors Centre

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
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.

Oozo 82 Architects, Emscherkunst.2013 Visitors Center

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.

Oozo 82 Architects, Emscherkunst.2013 Visitors Center


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