Academy Mont-Cenis Residential Development

In many areas of the Ruhr region, coal mines served as functional and urban development focal points. When the Mont Cenis coal mine in Sodingen closed in 1978, a 25-hectare area of disused land became available. The revitalisation of this land began first with the building of the North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry’s Mont Cenis Academy as part of the IBA Emscher Park. An award-winning building with one of the largest building-integrated solar facilities of the world, the academy provided an impetus for the creation of a new local district centre that includes a community park, high-density housing development and a new kindergarten. One of the last projects to be implemented in this centre was the residential and commercial building in the academy’s immediate vicinity.
Planned as an urban neighbourhood shopping centre, the building serves as both residential and retail space, complemented by a public marketplace in front of the complex.
Both the architecture and the building’s usage and energy concept are outstanding. A three-story perimeter development and a roof garden with a children’s playground was built on top of a supermarket. Behind its colourful facade are 40 flats suitable for the elderly and seven penthouse flats. Heating is supplied by a cogeneration unit that uses methane gas from the former Mont Cenis coal mine and supplies other buildings in area as well. It is part of the Mont Cenis energy park, which is linking the area’s industrial heritage with the technologies of the future.

Author: Route der Wohnkultur
Last changed on 12.06.2024

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Architecture » Residential buildings » Multiple Housing