A prologue to the post coal-mining era

Abstract: The surface mine Hambach is located in the west of Germany, close to Cologne and was founded in 1978 from the electric company RWE to dig up brown coal and produce electricity. The mine measures a surface of 8.500ha and a depth of 470 m and was planned to be operated until 2045. After mining RWE plans to recultivate the area with forest, agriculture and a remaining lake of 3900ha. The mine is a site that is out of proportion. This proposal is a composition of interventions in different time and scale aiming to tell the story of soil, water, vegetation, animals and humans. The excavator is a scale figure to these dimensions and becomes the protagonist of the story. On it‘s way down to its final position at the bottom of the pit, it is sculpting the soil one last time. After that last operation nature will take over. Water will find its path and reshape the pattern of the excavator. With water, vegetation comes back and then gives space for animals to live and humans to watch the transition from a colourful desert to a flourishing oasis. This stream of interventions is connecting the pit‘s terraces to a spiral sculpture that over time will fill with water.