How Do You Preserve Industrial Heritage?
The preservation and development of facilities at Zollverein using the example of the Comb Building
At the Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site, 65 buildings, more than 200 technical facilities and machines, and about 15 kilometres of conveyor and pipeline bridges are under a preservation order. When the machines were still in operation, when coal was racing along the conveyor belts and gas was streaming through the pipelines, everyone at the coal mine and the coking plant was always interested to immediately repair any damage. After all, it was all about efficiency, profitability and money. For a long time, the use of the facilities secured their maintenance. Today, this is where site development at Zollverein comes in: As long as a building is used, its preservation is easiest to ensure – its future is secured.
Comb BuildingUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
The facilities and buildings at Zollverein were not designed to last for decades and later be admired as a World Heritage. They were built for a short period of operation and were often mere shells for machines.
Comb BuildingUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
The development of the Comb Building
The Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site has developed into a multifaceted location, and many further uses have emerged: museums, event spaces, stages, gastronomy, offices, workshops, commercial businesses and art studios. One example of this is the Comb Building. It is located on the „white side” of the Coking Plant, where coke oven gases and other by-products of coke production were once processed. The renovation and conversion of this former operations building took place between 2010 and 2016.
Why "Comb Building"?
The Comb Building owes its name to the arrangement of the individual building parts: seven tall volumes are connected by a corridor – viewed from above, it looks like a comb.
Two steps...
... are usually necessary to preserve a building. In a first stage, it is secured by refurbishing the roof and the external envelope, which means that the shell – the roof and the facades – is sealed, in order to protect the interior against further weather damage.
Then...
...the conversion is started, which usually leads to a reconstruction of the interior. In this context, the principles of an approach in keeping with monumental protection requirements must be observed.
Formerly a pump house, today a furniture studio
Especially the outer shell of this building part was damaged. An urgently required renovation of the roof and the facades made it possible to protect the interior.
The floor plan of the building and the windows positioned very high up allow uses, which require indirect light and no small-scale partitioning of space. In this case, these include mainly workshops, studios and storage areas.
Damp concrete ceilings, plaster coming off down to the brickwork, rusty girders, damaged floor tiles – that is what the pump house looked like inside. Outside, it was no better: cracked walls, ingrowing trees, broken windows. After the roof and building shell refurbishment, the damages were repaired, and the building envelope was tight.
To allow the new use, only a few facility components were removed, and the hall was then equipped with a heating system, sanitary installations, lighting, a new floor, a second layer of windows and new surface finishes.
Comb BuildingUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
Meanwhile, a furniture studio has moved in.
A decarbonization facility becomes a showroom for tiles.
The building, in which decarbonization – a water treatment process – had been carried out, when the coking plant was in operation, was severely damaged by moisture. It had also been used as a support repair shop; therefore, the openings of the former cleaning towers had been converted into skylights.
After the roof and structural refurbishment, the building shell was tight, and the concrete ceiling was renovated.
Comb BuildingUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
The finished room
Comb BuildingUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
Today, the former decarbonization facility is used as the showroom of a tile company.
Formerly a gravel filter building, today a soap workshop
The interior is characterized by massive gravel filters. Moisture penetration of the facade had only in some areas caused severe damages.
One of the two gravel filter plants was completely preserved, while technical installations, a new floor and side rooms were added.
Comb BuildingUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
Today, the room, which has a special atmosphere thanks to the preserved installations, is used as a soap workshop.
The former staff corridor today provides access to the new arts and crafts rooms and offices. It serves as an entrance area and as a connection between the different utilization units. The staff corridor is now the new entrance to the Comb Building.
