Together with local residents and artists, raumlaborberlin converted a subway station from the 1970s in the Ruhr Area into a temporary opera house.
The subway station Eichbaum, located along the U18 line between Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr is dilapidated but still in use. Around the station, the highway and railway line dissect the landscape.
Concrete dominates the public space, which is less a meeting point than a place of fear.
Here, the architects constructed a temporary Opernbauhütte in maximum contrast to the existing space - what could be more out of place than an opera? Composers and authors developed stories about the site; the building and its surroundings not only became the setting but also the subject matter.
The opera became a springboard for further ideas, developed together with local residents, such as a boxing tournament and design workshops with young people.
The opera workshop was able to stimulate the imagination of local residents regarding alternative uses of the location.
It is too early to predict just how far these ideas will be carried into the future.