Project Ewald Deer - land layers - Landschichten

Highlights of Ewald: Summer 1999 decision to close the Ewald 1/2/7 mine, summer 2000 closure of the mine gates for 4,000 miners, 2002 international design workshop for the Ewald project (1st prize - 'Landschichten' concept by arbos landscape architects, Halfmann Architekten and Cino Ccchi), 2004 decision on the development plan, 2005 first new settlements on the basis of the master plan. Prize - 'Landschichten' concept by arbos Landschaftsarchitekten, Halfmann Architekten and Cino Zucchi), 2004 Decision on the development plan, 2005 First new settlements on the basis of the master plan, 2006 Completion of the Ewald promenade and the Blue Ribbon, 2007 Award for the future location Ewald from the location initiative "Germany - Land of Ideas" as one of the "365 Landmarks of Ideas", 2007 Recognition of the Ewald project with the BDLA award.

A new business location is being created in the context of the cultural heritage of the former Ewald colliery. The public space and the listed buildings of the Kauen, engine houses and winding towers form the strategic initial stages of an urban revitalization of this old industrial site.



The central element of the Ewald Promenade is part of the ring promenade around the Hoheward spoil tip and at the same time the most important pedestrian and cycle path connection through the Ewald project area. The promenade stretches from the Resser-Bach-Weg in the north via the Ewald market square to the rainwater retention lake in the south. The promenade accompanies a 3 m wide, cascading canal - the Blue Ribbon - which collects the surface water from the adjacent construction areas. The promenade and canal are part of the land strata concept for the former colliery site, according to which different urban structures and uses are divided by striking open space elements. They form a symbolic caesura between the old colliery core with its buildings worthy of preservation and the new service and commercial structures to the east. From the promenade, there are repeated views across the canal into the so-called campus area with the historic colliery buildings.

AppreciationGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2007

Jury verdict: Embedded in the economic region "Northern Ruhr Area", a location of European format is being created in the town of Herten - the "Ewald Project". Where once more than 6,000 miners worked on one of the most productive collieries in the Ruhr area, new impulses will be set again in the future. The landscape architecture as a "pioneer" in a long conversion process has an important design-forming task.

"Landschichten" - so the superordinate urban design - transfers the use concept of the old colliery into a system of order for the future. Outstandingly solved thereby the interaction of historically formative old substance and new landscape architecture. By making some strong open space settings - such as the rainwater-fed water band that flows into a lake, and the two linear structures Ewaldpromenade and Valley - individual, pleasantly restrained and usable places are created that will contribute to the positive expression of the newly emerging quarter. Through careful choice of material and color of the plaza surfaces, the public spaces are atmospherically condensed and receive a clear legibility.

Landscape architecture goes into submission in the "Project Ewald" to generate the qualities that promote the development of the area.