Phänomen in Deutschland

The misunderstanding had already occured even before we went off. We thought it was “rural area”.. So in my mind we were all going to a countryside with grass and cows.. But no.

As usual, I did not look up the links sent to us. I want to keep my self as a blank page. However, I heard already that it was once an industrial area. I did not have such a high expectation, but I was excited enough to explore.

I like the way that it was only 2 days travel. It is better for me to keep the stay short that it will not give me time to get bored. I notice that I have this tendency to lose my interest when I am exposed into something too much.

The Phenomenon:
1. We took the tram to the Zeche Zollverein area which was once a coal mine. It was beyond what I ever imagined. The ex-industrial buildings were redeveloped in a very interesting and unexpected way. The pool, ice skate arena, museum, event venue.
2. The other ex-factory building complex which were just merely stand there without any particular function, but being dressed up in attractive colored lightings...even though the whole place is still left empty. Me and 2 friends managed to climb the stairs up the building until the top. This makes me wonder, if such building existed in my country, what would it end up to be? It would make a

perfect crime scene, I suppose.
3. We went to the zollverein kubus designed by Sanaa, but only the ground floor, in canteen area. But I was intrigued by its simplicity. It has no ornaments, even the windows, squarely-shaped, are merely just glass, with a clean cut window frame. This way, the wall itself works as the frame of the scenery.
4. The next day we went to Brautmodenmeile, an area recently found a new future in the immigrant bridal shopping industry. As far as this long street goes, there are always bridal shop around. I think this way we can give identity to a street in an area. The "bridal street" in this case.
5. We were invited to come and sit inside a mosque there. The guide explained that they want the sacred place to also serve function for the community, not only for the Muslims. So they open the back part which was the canteen for everybody. And I think this is a nice idea to create religious placed more open for people from other religions. As a designer, we can create a space to make people equal and blend together. Not only to separate people in groups.