Dortmund in [E]motion (2016)

Submitted: April 2016. Grade achieved: Merit.

The scheme is located in the heart of Dortmund’s Unionviertel, an area which through extensive research and analysis was identified as being the most fragmented of the quarter.

The idea for this project, ‘Dortmund in [e]motion’, starts with the concept of fragmentation as identified in urban sociology, and is then shifted towards an idea of emotional fragmentation and reconnection.

In everyday life, people experience a plethora of emotions, and often they feel the need to hide away and re-evaluate events that have happened in their life. The project’s aim is exactly this, to provide an escape for anyone that has the need to re-think things.

Typical human emotions were investigated through the use of simple diagrams, which were then used throughout the design process to develop the final scheme. The project consists of a phenomenological journey, which unfolds unexpectedly. Readings on phenomenology helped getting a better understanding on how the use of simple and diagrammatic architectural tools, such as light, shadow, material, scale and views, could provide the visitor with a variety of feelings: from tranquillity to excitement; from restriction to openness. The journey culminates at the top of a 30m high tower which provides a perspective-changing view over the Union Quarter.