Kokerei Zollverein

Kokerei Zollverein was built between 1957 and 1961 to the design of Fritz Schupp. With a daily output of about 8,500 tonnes of coke, it was one of the world’s biggest coking plants. Coke is an indispensable product for the steel industry and is required for industrial production of pig iron. The coking plant had to be closed in 1993. Plans to sell the plant to China failed and demolition was imminent. However, the coking plant was saved thanks to the efforts of the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur (Foundation for the Conservation of Industrial Monuments and Historical Culture) and its inclusion in the concepts of the Internationale Bauausstellung IBA Emscher Park (Emscher Park International Construction Exhibition) established to cope with structural change.