Dortmund „PHOENIX Lake“
The new Lake PHOENIX demonstrates the change from an old industrial brownfield site into an area bringing together landscape- and urban planning-aspects. Urban renewal activities on the waterfront combine housing, business and recreation with the requirements of flood protection and the renaturing of rivers.
Context
Source: PHOENIX See Entwicklungsgesellschaft
Before industrialisation, the environment of the urban district of Hörde was characterised by marshlands and mill ponds in the plain of the River Emscher. For the purpose of building the steelworks, the plain had been raised by up to 10 metres. Since then, the River Emscher has been flowing through “Höschkanal”, a 3 kilometre long canal below the steelworks site. In terms of urban development, the Hörde district was situated between the eastern and western parts of the steelworks. As a location for heavy industry, it became a low-income district. After the eastern part of the steelworks had been dismantled, the district centre was next to a brownfield site of 96 hectares, where now a new area for residential, commercial and recreational purposes is developed. The western part of the steelworks, which had already been abandoned before, is developed into the “PhoenixWest” technology park.
The renaturing of the River Emscher and the retention area necessary to prevent floods were the reason why water became decisive for the development in Hörde. The new Lake PHOENIX represents a paradigm shift in the way the city of Dortmund sees itself: “from dirt to beauty”, i.e. from steel productin to future technologies and living on a lake.
Project description
Source: PHOENIX See Entwicklungsgesellschaft
The City of Dortmund (approximate 580,000 inhabitants as of 2010) has initiated and is responsible for the urban development of the Lake PHOENIX project. The city council's department responsible for urban planning and building developed the related urban master planning framework based on the visionary design of the architect, Norbert Kelzenberg. The urban development project was then realised by the development company "PHOENIX See Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH” (a fully owned subsidiary of the local council services company "Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG") based on an agency contract. The new Emscher waterway is built and maintained in the context of the renaturing activities by “Emschergenossenschaft”, the water management association responsible for the River Emscher. It has purchased related areas and, on behalf of the City of Dortmund, will also assume responsibility for the water management of the Lake.
This complex urban restructuring project was launched in 2004 by dismantling the steelworks. When converting the site for the new Lake, approx. 2.8 million m3 of excavated land were used for landscape buildings and for terracing the edges of the slopes. Attractive residential areas were thus created on the southern and northern sides of the Lake. On the western lakeside, the existing district centre of Hörde is enlarged by a city port and a mixed functional urban area.
The Lake (area approx. 600,000m³) is primarily fed by groundwater and unpolluted rainwater from the new building sites. According to planning law, it has been planned as a dam. It has an additional water retention capacity of about 240,000m³ and in the future will serve as a flood retention space for the uncovered and restored River Emscher. In order to cope with extreme water flow events, a weir and a spillway crest were installed. A controllable drain was installed at the deepest point of the Lake to empty the Lake and clean the bed of the Lake, if necessary.
Source: Stadtplanungs- und Bauordnungsamt Stadt Dortmund
The River Emscher flows through an embanked riverbed without direct link to the Lake. In this way, the various ecosystems are separated from running and standing waters, sedimentation is prevented and the Lake is not strained by the water of the River Emscher, which might be rich in nutrients. Together with the renatured Emscher, the Lake forms a water landscape of 33 hectares, which, as a linking area, is an important element of the Emscher landscape park.
The costs for the project, costs for the purchase of land excluded, are about 168 million euros. The creation of the Lake and a lakeside area of 50m were financed from the funding programme “Ökologieprogramm Emscher-Lippe (ÖPEL)”. The “Emschergenossenschaft” water management association paid the costs for the Lake, which would have been caused by building the retention area, and the costs for building the new waterway of the Emscher The urban development measures were funded by the urban renewal programme of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2012, the River Emscher flows above ground again. Lake PHOENIX has been flooded and, according to monitoring results, has good water quality. It is surrounded by a 3.2km long food and cycle path and opened for leisure activities. Public infrastructure such as playgrounds, paths, green spaces and squares have been created. In the centre of Hörde, first new office buildings are being used. Numerous building plots for residential purposes have been sold, several residential buildings are being constructed, the first residential buildings are occupied.
Project chronology
Year | Event |
---|---|
1999-2000 | Visionary design for Lake PHOENIX and related master planning |
2000 | City council’s policy decision concerning urban development concept taken |
2001 | ”Entwicklungsgesellschaft” founded; land acquired; legally binding land-use plan for northern residential building plots created |
2003 | Decision to draw up further legally binding land-use plans taken |
2004 | Steelworks dismantled |
2005 | Decision to adopt the urban land-use plan for Lake Phoenix taken |
2007 | Decision to adopt the urban land-use plan for the Emscher waterway taken |
2010 | Flooding of Lake and sale of building plots started |
2011 | Public infrastructure measures and flooding completed; first buildings created |
2012 | First residential buildings occupied; use of Lake for leisure activities started |
Aims
Source: PHOENIX See Entwicklungsgesellschaft
- To stabilise and strengthen the district of Hörde
- To enlarge the centre of Hörde by urban development measures
- To link the urban district centre to the Lake
- To develop a central area for services, retail trade, catering, leisure and cultural facilities
- To create attractive waterside residential units
- To protect against floods by creating rain retention space
- To renature the River Emscher and the local ditch “Hörder Bach”
Types of measures
Source: bgmr Landschaftsarchitekten
- Urban master plan, planning approval procedure, legally binding land-use plans, design guidelines for housing as an element of sale agreements for properties developed
- Lake created
- Phosphorus removal plant and soil filter at the bottom of the Lake created
- Local council byelaw concerning the use of the Lake (e.g. forbidding bathing and fishing) adopted
- Fishery management plan launched
- Quality monitoring of water pouring in and out
- Preventing worst cases: possibility to empty the Lake via an outlet structure and by clearing away Lake bottom provided
- Regional green corridor of the Emscher landscape park extended
- River Emscher uncovered and semi-natural status restored
- Harbour basin and harbour created
- Public pathways, squares, green areas renewed and newly created
- Dwelling units newly built (approximate 1,000)
- New buildings for office, service, commercial, education and cultural purposes constructed
Innovations
Source: PHOENIX See Entwicklungsgesellschaft
The project is an example for the synergetic interaction of hydraulic engineering, landscaping and urban development measures. It enables to combine various functional uses reaching high quality. The preconditions for a successful interacton of urban development, recreation, landscape, water quality, flora and fauna were considerably improved. Lake PHOENIX demonstrates the transformation from an industrial location into a new urban area offering housing and recreation opportunities and at the same time strengthening the existing urban district centre and the landscape. Lake PHOENIX is both “leisure lake”, image factor and dam.
Sources
- Interviews on 3 September 2010 with Olaf Greve, deputy director of the City of Dortmund, urban planning department, Norbert Kelzenberg, urban planning department, Michael Lenkeit, City of Dortmund Economic Development Agency , Frank David, City of Dortmund, civil engineering department
- Planning guidelines for residential buildings on Lake PHOENIX, “Wohnen am Südhang” (Living at the southern slope) guideline Development company “PHOENIX See Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH“, City of Dortmund, pesch partner architekten stadtplaner (firm of architects and urban planners), May 2010
- “Integrated waterfront development” on the BBSR homepage http://www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/DE/Veroeffentlichungen/BMVBS/WP/2011/heft77_DL.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2
Further information
- http://www.phoenixdortmund.de/de/home/
- http://www.phoenixseedortmund.de/
- http://www.phoenix-see.de/
- http://www.wohnen-am-phoenixsee.de/
Poject site on Google-Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/TGTutmhLrTR2
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 44263 - town: Dortmund - street: Hermannstraße.
Last update: 19.04.2017