The Lohring underground station in Bochum
Concentrated at one site: architectural design, artistic lighting and sound in a new underground station
The City of Bochum and the architectural firm Rübsamen + Partner joined forces with the artists Maria Joeressen and Klaus Kessner and demonstrated the heights urban design is capable of reaching. A new facet in Bochum’s urban personality, the Lohring underground station is an example for the Ruhr region and a showpiece for the architectural culture in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Curved tubular lighting suspended from the arched ceiling complements the lighting installed below the platform’s glass floor.
Winner of the competition in 1997, the Bochum architectural firm Rübsamen + Partner created a conclusive plan that focuses on the spatial appearance of the station while leaving the arched ceiling completely unaffected. Instead, a glass floor assumes the principal lighting, running the length of the platform and ending where an enormous red wall with an illuminated yellow cross terminates the 90m-long space.
The artistically designed enamel wall depicts the exact form of the intersection of Wittener Straße with Lohring and Steinring directly above the underground station.
From the early stages of the project, the plan called for the integration of a concept by the Düsseldorf artist Maria Joeressen and a real time sound installation by composer Klaus Kessner.
All of the amenities and furnishings have the same aesthetic character and together make a thoroughly congruous design statement.
Project information:
Architects:
Rübsamen + Partner, Holger Rübsamen, Boris E. Biskamp
Artistic concept: Eva-Maria Joeressen
Sound sculpture: Klaus Kessner
Client: Stadtbahn-GbR
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