The curious incident of the flower towers

Bottrop city centre is grey, shabby, and generic. It lacks identity, specificity, and uniqueness. The proposal is to give Bottrop city centre new amenities, new green areas, new places for people of all generations. The new amenities are introduced without destroying the existing fabric. A number of old buildings are first emptied in a Matta-Clark way, and then occupied by new amenities. With some old houses, only the facades are changed. Living rooms fly across the street to become winter gardens and extensions of old apartments. Existing facades are dotted with a geometry of glass boxes, altering the whole area’s urban appearance. Some old houses just become vertical. The existing low-rise buildings maintain the city’s German look, whilst the slender new towers provide a new layer of identity. They also can be used as offices.