Blog

By Chris Wilson, VEV

We discovered Dusseldorf, Germany after our son and new daughter-in-law settled there two years ago. Located in the western part of Germany, it is divided by the Rhine River with an Old Town section (Alstadt) on the east bank and a modern commercial area on the west bank. It is an easy two hour drive to Amsterdam and Brussels; a three hour drive to Bruges; and a 30 minute drive to Cologne with its easy access to the sights along the Rhine. A great location.

What amazed me were the buildings. The newly constructed Ko-Bogen is a building with a “striking façade made of glass and white natural stone, cut open by diagonal slashes, the so-called ‘cuts’ on the north and west sides.” Designed by Daniel Libeskind (a musical virtuoso who changed careers to become an architect, creating buildings such as the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Denver Art Museum, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto), this structure features hanging gardens, making it an interesting and inviting entrance way to the east side of the town and the beautiful Konigsallee street and shopping area.

If you wander down along the Rhine and look across at the MedienHafen area, you will see Frank Gehry-designed postmodern buildings. They appear to be a “gigantic sculpture,” but are actually three unique buildings with “different materials chosen giving each complex its own identity.” The mirrored walls and matte white finishes on the buildings are amazing additions to the waterfront. From that same vantage point, you can also see the human-like forms of creatures called Flossis (designed by the artist Rosalie) climbing up the exteriors of some of the buildings. The sight of the Gehry buildings so close to such colorful figures just adds to the uniqueness of the harbor area.