Gießhalle Duisburg

  • © Franziska von Gagern
    (c) Franziska von Gagern

THE GIEßHALLE IS PART OF THE PERFORMANCE (Ohne Titel) (2000) BY TINO SEHGAL.

The ›Aktiengesellschaft für Hüttenbetrieb‹ was founded by August Thyssen in the north of Duisburg in 1902. By the year 1908, the 200-hectare site was home to five blast furnaces as well as a pit, a sintering plant, a coking plant and a foundry.

The Gebläsehalle or blasting hall forms part of the former steam blasting plant, a complex dating back to the works' beginnings. It is 50 metres long by 12.4 metres wide and still contains four of the electric turbo compressors used to produce the furnace blast needed to smelt iron-ore.

The Kraftzentrale or central power plant was built between 1906 and 1911. 170 metres long, 35 metres wide and 20 metres high, it is one of the largest industrial buildings in Metropole Ruhr. Its six gas blowers produced furnace blast and ten high power gas engines, powered by blast furnace gas, once drove the dynamos producing electricity for the plant as well as for the adjacent works housing. In 1965 the machines fell silent and were later scrapped. The hall itself was used to store equipment right up to the mid- Eighties. In 1997, after a seven-month long overhaul, the Kraftzentrale reopened its doors as a multifunctional location for cultural events.

Directions

Emscherstraße 71
47137 Duisburg-Meiderich