In the design process for Essen’s Kronenberg Center, Wolfgang Zimmer came into contact with the history of the Krupp Kronenberg settlement for the first time. Now he was there when the Altendorf citizens‘ association erected a plaque. It recalls a missing workers‘ settlement, in which around 8,000 people used to live.
The housing project was built in the 1870s on the initiative of Alfred Krupp: He had the brick houses with over 1300 apartments built for his workforce. Nearly a decade and a half later, in 2010, the KZA office designed the Kronenberg Center for part of the site. Wolfgang Zimmer, in this context, dealt with the building history of the district – and came across documents on the settlement.
As the topic interested him, the managing partner of the KZA office offered a walking tour on building culture for the Association of German Architects (BDA) in 2016. On this tour, he came in contact with Dr. med. Reinhard Mielke: The engineer is a member of the Altendorf citizens’ association and made sure that the memorial site in the district was realized.
„The design of the Kronenberg settlement was groundbreaking for housing construction in general,“ emphasizes Wolfgang Zimmer. „The project was radiating all the way to Berlin, even the Emperor came to visit.“
The photo shows Wolfgang Zimmer (left) with Dr. med. Reinhard Mielke (© Mareike Ahlborn).
Further information on the installation of the plaque and the history of the Kronenberg settlement can be found in the article by Mareike Ahlborn.
