Abstract

A catalogue about an interdisciplinary project by Architects, Artists and the City of Düsseldorf.

The Wehrhahn Line is a subway line in the very heart of Düsseldorf that was developed on the basis of intense cooperation between architects, artists, engineers and the municipal authorities from the very outset. It is widely recognized as constituting a new model for collaborative construction. What was implemented was a holistic concept of a subway tunnel as an “underground spatial continuum” that writhes like a giant snake through the earth, widening at the stations. The entrances to the six new stations are unique and spectacularly designed cuts in this Continuum – picturesque, sculptural, interactive, acoustic, interstellar and geometric interventions that are inseparable from the shell geometries of the construction.

Artists: NETZWERKARCHITEKTEN, HEIKE KLUSSMANN, RALF BRÖG, URSULA DAMM, MANUEL FRANKE, ENNE HAEHNLE, THOMAS STRICKER

Press comments

“Düsseldorf realizes a unique spatial experiment: Art and architecture as the stimulus for urban and suburban mobility” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

„The new metro represents a rare moment when people who never usually interact – city bureaucrats, engineers, architects and artists – create something bigger than themselves“ (The Guardian)

“Art and magic in a German metro” (The New York Times)