Kohlenmischhalle

Down the shaft

Read this venue the way the pit was worked

Scroll and the page descends. The gauge on the left reads the live depth in metres; each level of the old shaft carries one part of what you need to know about the building above it.

Schacht Dellwig II · 0–640 m

1. Pit bank · Depth ±0 m

   You enter at the top and walk down

   The only public way in is the old vehicle ramp, which spirals a full turn before it reaches the floor. Guests spend ninety seconds descending in near darkness with the room opening up beside them. We have never found a better opening sequence, and we did not design it.

2. First level · Depth 95 m

   Twenty-six metres of concrete, four ways

   Four unbroken concrete faces, no windows, no interruptions: the bunker is effectively a projection instrument. Large-format video work here does not need a screen, and the board-marked surface takes light in a way a white wall never will.

3. Second level · Depth 240 m

   The echo is 6,1 seconds and it is not negotiable

   Untreated, a spoken word is unintelligible in here. Our acoustic package — hanging absorbers plus a distributed delay system — is included in the day rate and is not optional for any format with speech. Music with a slow tempo can use the reverb; a moderated programme cannot.

4. Third level · Depth 430 m

   Built in 1954, and it shows

   This is post-war concrete, poured fast during the coal boom when the Ruhr was rebuilding a country and importing labour to do it. It is not a beautiful building and was never meant to be. Programming it as pure aesthetic backdrop misses what it is; most of our clients here work with that tension rather than against it.

5. Shaft bottom · Depth 640 m

   Cold, loud, and €11,400 a day

   A production day for 500 standing guests is €11,400 including the acoustic package, the ramp lighting and site management. Two things we insist on: guests are told in advance to dress for 12 °C, and no format is booked here that needs seated comfort.