Where sewage once flowed up until the end of the 1990s, a wastewater treatment plant in the heart of the Ruhr area has been transformed into a flourishing landscaped park. The centrepiece of the site is formed by the two sedimentation tanks, which measure 70 meters across. While one of these has been left as a water tank – now containing pure, fresh water and crossed by a scraper bridge open to the public – the second has been transformed into a sunken, terraced garden with more than 20,000 shrubs and grasses. The garden was designed as a “theatre of plants” in close cooperation with the artist team of Piet Oudolf and GROSS.MAX. 

Between the two tanks and the utility buildings, stretches the central square with its renovated former turbine building, adjoining the edge of the Bottrop suburb of Ebel. The building now houses a café and is a popular destination on sunny days with its hedge-ringed terrace. 

A playground with a slide mounted on the slope and striking red swings offering a view across the whole park completes the setting. 

BernePark has been presented with numerous awards and accolades: 

Presentation at the International Architecture Biennale “IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE” in Rotterdam
Award – Emscherkunst.2013/BernePark as a “contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development”
Highly commended – German Prize for Urban Design 2012
Commended – NRW Landscape Architecture Prize 2012
National Prize for Integrated Urban Development and Building Culture 2012: First place in the category “Buildings and urban spaces”

Design: Planungsbüro DTP Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH

Client: Emschergenossenschaft

Project location: Germany, Bottrop

Planning and realisation: 2008-2012

Photos: DTP, Roman Mensing Luftbild: Hans Blossey