page_title: Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord
section_title: Importance of memory
hierarchical_section_title: Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord / Design / Importance of memory
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Verladebrücke (Das Krokodil) mit Spiegelung im südlichen Klärbecken im Landschaftspark Duisburg, gesehen vom Klärbeckenrand This image shows a heritage building in Germany, located in the North Rhine-Westphalian city Duisburg-Meiderich/Beeck&#160;(no.&#160;506).
context_page_description: Landschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany.
  It was designed in 1991 by Latz + Partner, with the intention that it work to heal and understand the industrial past, rather than trying to reject it. The park closely associates itself with the past use of the site: a coal and steel production plant and the agricultural land it had been prior to the mid 19th century.
context_section_description: Memory has re-emerged as an important aspect of design, and has been addressed by authors such as Sebastien Marot, Frances Yates, Robert Smithson, and Peter Latz himself. For them, memory does not equal preservation but instead has a transient quality. It implies a re-representation or understanding of the past, as memories constantly shift and change as one experiences life. Marot believes that the memory of a site should be used as a design strategy, as it shows depth and a process of connection. Yates’ argument for the importance of memory comes out of her concern that architecture has become too uniform, removing the particularities of a place. These idiosyncrasies have a history with the art of memory which uses the principle of association with places. Smithson's assertion, in his article “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic,” is similar, in that memory recalls the past but in a way that applies it to new things. Finally, Latz claims that interrelations must be made concrete and visible and that the viewer will create their own picture of a place, not the designer (Latz, 94, 96).
  These ideas of memory encompass Landschaftspark. A series of pathways at multiple levels connect sites scattered throughout the project, allowing visitors to construct their own experiences. These sites include the bunker gardens, where the fern garden is located. This garden was formed using railroad ties collected from other locations at the site, which might remind someone of the old railway that is now an entrance to the park. It is similar to the way Smithson's essay, “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic,” incorporates elements of the past to aid in giving meaning to things of the present (Marot, 42). By walking through the garden, an individual's memory may be sparked when they see the typical railway ties. This might then reveal new connections, as these railway ties occupy a different space than the long lines that which they are typically associated with.
  The sewage canal, which was believed to be in the same location as the ‘Old Emscher’ river, could not remain as it existed on the site, and was placed underground (Diedrich, 73). A new canal has taken the place of the sewage canal, but is now flowing with fresh rainwater. Instead of creating a more “naturally” shaped waterway, this new canal, the Emscher River, was kept as straight as the canal before. The canal aids in one's understanding of water processes and changes in time. Markers made by soil mounds (these also break up the culvert form) allow the depth of the water to be read by the visitor to the site. Here the visitor is able to understand on a seasonal basis the process of the site and mark their experience of the park by how high the water was.
  Finally, Piazza Metallica also works with ideas of temporality and memory: the landscape architects took 49 steel plates that formerly lined the foundry pits at the site (Diedrich, 70) and installed them to mark a gathering place, intended for events and performances. However, the steel plates are not meant to last; rather, they will gradually erode and decay, portraying the natural processes occurring in the site (Steinglass, 129). In a way, this piazza represents the site as a whole: as this steel decays (like the other steel on the site), more grass will grow between them. The plants will eventually fill the space, with the remains of the rusted steel amidst it.
caption: Loading bridge
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "E-M5MarkII", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DxO OpticsPro 10.5.4", "Image DateTime": "2017:09:24 22:30:04", "Image Artist": "Arnoldius", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Arnoldius", "Image ExifOffset": "454", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[51, 28, 25407/500]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[6, 46, 2139/50]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0", "GPS GPSStatus": "A", "Image GPSInfo": "13712", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "14492", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8166", "EXIF ExposureTime": "8", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:09:24 22:30:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:09:24 22:30:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-3/10", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "12", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5472", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "7296", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13610", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[12, 40, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "OLYMPUS M.12-40mm F2.8"}