Duisburg Canals
The canals in Duisburg are an urban planning and water technical element in the master plan of the architectural firm Foster Partners for the conversion of the inner harbor and the downtown area. Two of the canals are done, a third is partially complete, partially planned. Around the canals around 500 traffic units have been created in block construction.
The canals are part of the Route of Industrial Heritage and other buildings are nearby: Küppersmühle, Werhahnmühle, Faktorei 21, Hafenforum and Memory General.
Residential development
The maximum five -storey residential building along the canals between Philosophers and Stresemannstraße in 1987 or 1988 planned Weber Partner from Stuttgart architects Auer and implemented by the GEBAG ( Duisburg -profit construction company AG). They received the 2000 " Award of exemplary buildings in NRW" and in 2002 the " Bauherrenpreis " the city of Duisburg. The buildings around the Philosophenhof were built before 2001 from the Trust Office GmbH ( THS ) in 1999. It was built on the site of the former tobacco factory Böninger, which was operated in 1912 and 1975 and then still being used as a warehouse. It is still the gateway and the administration building are available at the Stresemannstraße, in the latter the daycare Hansegracht is now housed.
The resulting building access to the block structure of the environment and are still by staircases and other elements as single units recognizable. Other elements are the green roofs, ¿¿ durchgequerte ¿¿ flats with about ten meters depth and balconies, loggias or small spills on both the western and eastern side, back staggered upper floors with partially protruding roofs, large windows and light or reddish plastered wall surfaces and open ventilated underground parking. The ground floor apartments have small front gardens at the back, the public space around the canal has little traffic, planted with rows of trees and designed as a communication space.
The approximately one-half acre, semi-public courtyard west of the Hansegracht called Philosophenhof, was created by the Dutch landscape architect Joern Copijn as a park and garden. From waste materials of the original building was created as a structuring and calming element around the central playground, an organic wall with gates.
Water Technology
The eastern port area was separated as part of the master plan by sheet piling in Portsmouth dam from the rest of the harbor and filled by sealing the substrate to form an artificial lake (26 m above sea level). In order to maintain the water level, precipitation water of the surrounding impervious areas must be conducted specifically in the basin. The artificial canals are this buffer ( 27 m above sea level) and supply channels. In them, rainwater from the roof and floor surfaces is collected by pipe and open trough lines and passed through overflows into the harbor basin. Excess water can on the north side of the harbor ( the canals are on the south side ) seep over a gravel bed. During times of drought and to mitigate the high water table and groundwater is provided by a solar-powered fountain at the Hansegracht, the annual capacity is 90,000 m³. For pre-treatment of the feed water of the canals small biotopes were applied to the points of discharge at the southern end.