Gewächshäuser der Zukunft
THE ABANDONED GLASS HOUSES IN GERMANY
These ‘Gewächshäuser der Zukunft’ are a group of greenhouses in the Müschpark in Aachen. The site belonged to the close-by monastery St. Raphael. They were eventually abandoned in 2005.
These twenty-four geodesic domes, built of pentagonal and hexagonal elements, looks like they were the location for a sci-fi movie with houses from the future. But in fact they are just ordinary greenhouses, or Gewächshäuser in German.
In 1813 Wilhelm Körfgen turned the 13 hectares of land into a Ferme Ornée. A Ferme Ornée is an economically used property that is integrated into a landscaped garden. During the 1900s, Joseph Clemens Weyhe further designed the Müschpark. However, the characteristic elements of the Ferme Ornée can still be seen in the Müschpark today.
The park includes greenhouses that were originally part of the old St Raphael monastery grounds. Back in 1985, they were sold to an organization assisting long-term unemployed individuals. These greenhouses, constructed in 1987, played a role in the reintegration process. They were designed by Franz Jülicher, who drew inspiration from his children’s soccer games. Eventually, in 2010, the city purchased the park and surrounding area. Unfortunately, the greenhouses were not preserved. As a result, they were dismantled and relocated to a botanic garden in Kommern in 2019.
The Müschpark, registered as a protected garden monument since 2010, is now part of the Lousberg Landscape Park. I visited the ‘Gewächshäuser der Zukunft’ in 2014.
