Modern car park at Zollverein colliery

Between August 2017 and December 2018, new parking spaces for around 360 vehicles were provided on the site of the Zollverein coking plant, part of the Zollverein colliery, a world cultural heritage site in Essen in Germany’s Ruhr region. The ambitious new structure in the form of an open parking deck covered with a landscaped roof was built using concrete release agents, curing agents and concrete cosmetics from MC.
The building is a car “park” in two senses of the word – first there is its pure functionality as a repository for temporarily vacated vehicles, and then there is its innovatively greened roof slab, which serves as a small park with paths and seats, allowing people a place to stroll and relax. A rising reinforced concrete structure consisting of columns and wall sections supports the approximately 190 x 47 m reinforced concrete slab. The parking level itself was also designed with high aesthetics in mind. The single-storey deck was slightly lowered and blended with embankments to give the impression that the almost 9,000 m² roof slab was floating above ground level. In order to reinforce this impression, the architectural and planning team of Kadawittfeldarchitektur GmbH from Aachen opted for prefabricated concrete elements with multiple bends, which were assembled to form a peripheral roof edge.

Reliable demoulding

The contract for the construction work was awarded to Dressler Bau GmbH, Essen, with which MC has an excellent long-standing relationship. The proven concrete release agent Ortolan Basic 761 from MC was used in the manufacture of the precast elements for the wall and ceiling areas as well as for the columns. Solvent-free, low in odour and quickly biodegradable, it offers excellent environmental credentials. It is easy to use, weather-resistant and ensures clean demoulding, with a correspondingly high quality of concrete surface resulting. For the roof edge, the planning team chose a black-dyed concrete with a fine grain containing mica in order to achieve an appearance reminiscent of the anthracite coal mined at Zollverein from 1847 to 1986.