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CASE STUDY

Wehrhahn-Line Subway

The Wehrhahn-Line an exceptional group achievement that opened in Düsseldorf in February 2016, as a new subway line (3.4 km) across Düsseldorf city center. In Düsseldorf, this is the biggest transport construction scheme since the completion of the Rhine River tunnel in 1993. The project was completed after 15 years of planning and construction, with architects, artists, engineers, and the city administration working side-by-side.

The project was launched with an international competition in 2001. From 70 entries, Darmstadt-based architect and artist Heike Klussmann were selected to design the project. In the award-winning design, architecture and art are inseparable, complementing one another as they extend as an ensemble from the surface down to the train platforms. The design is like a snake winding its way through the soil and widening out at the stations. In the transition from surface to underground, identifiable “cut spaces” were created on the wall, each of them distinguishable with a unique identity (2700 different formats).

The skilful interplay of engineering expertise and art has succeeded in making the Wehrhahn-Line an exemplary and innovative contribution to the city infrastructure, one that now offers Düsseldorf’s residents and visitors an exceptional opportunity to “experience space” in local urban transit.

The art concept is based on an outstanding construction of precast elements in high-performance concrete cast stone, with individually computer integrated manufacturing.


03 November 2016


Key Facts

  • Country: Germany
  • Project: Kontinuum Wehrhahn-Linie Düsseldorf
  • Year of completion: 2016
  • Floor area: 4000 m2
  • Architectural design: netzwerkarchitekten GmbH, Prof. Heike Klussmann & Universität Kassel
  • Contractor: Federal Capital of Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf
  • Cast stone (as wall cladding): Schwab-Stein GmbH Betonsteinwerk
  • Aggregates: "Nordisch Weiß" and crystalline silica      
  • High-perfomance-binder: Flowstone white by Dyckerhoff
  • Pigmentes: synthetic iron-oxide