Benrather Straße Metro Station - Thomas Stricker "Himmel oben, Himmel unten"
Architecture far away from space and time
We slowly descend the escalator between the canyon of houses on Benrather Street. To our side is a nub-like structure made of shiny stainless steel. It is reminiscent of Braille, which assigns a letter to a raised dot pattern through its relief. Is there a message written on the wall that we cannot decipher? After a third of the way up the stairs, the station room begins to open up. Once on the distribution level, we look through a glass box into the elongated station room. Underneath the box, we can see directly onto the tracks. The walls are covered in studded stainless steel, creating a cool and sterile atmosphere. Then suddenly, in the corner of our eye, we see a huge ball of fire pass by.
An underground station becomes a time capsule
In his work ‘’Himmel oben, Himmel unten‘’, Thomas Stricker takes us on a journey into another cosmos. He plays with our expectations of an underground station and reverses them into a fantasy world that we otherwise only know from television. However, it would be a mistake to limit the artistic concept merely to the game of reversing relations. The meaning weighs far more heavily than the reversal of a firmly defined norm. With the reversal of above and below, the rest of the time-space structure is also reversed. The space beneath the earth becomes weightless and time passes at a different rhythm. ‘’Himmel oben, Himmel unten‘’ creates a time capsule in which the passenger can escape the pulse of the city. After descending into the depths, they find themselves in a place far removed from the world they were in seconds before. He is now in a space where time is not defined, where he can block out everyday life. Everyday life lies in the far distance on earth, occasionally passing by on the monitors like windows within the walls.
A visual expedition
Thomas Stricker's artistic intervention transforms the space cut into the ground into a spaceship travelling in a loop through our solar system. However, the architecture, which was developed in intensive dialogue with the Darmstadt planners Netzwerkarchitekten, is decisive for this illusion. The futuristic lines of the building elements and the central airspace above the railway tracks make the vision of the spaceship a reality. In the centre of the distribution level, passengers stand on the bridge and have an overview of the trains arriving and departing below them. If they look around, they can see the entire space and watch the planets and stars pass by. This perception of space is made possible by the generous glass surfaces, which also create a direct connection between the surface of the earth and the travelling level. The wedge-shaped air space running parallel to the staircase extends to the tracks and minimises the separation of functional levels. The result of the open design is a feeling of freedom and weightlessness. Just as we would expect from a space station.
A symbiosis of art and architecture
The station's sterile, matt, shiny stainless steel lining consistently separates the space from the surrounding ground and eliminates any awareness of its subterranean existence. In a unity of architecture and artistic installation, a place is created whose existence seems impossible. In a densely built-up city, a space of infinity suddenly opens up and stops time for the duration of the lingering. The Benrather Straße station space is thus not only an aesthetic spatial creation, but also a space of imagination for tens of thousands of commuters every day.
Architectural photography between time and space
In my work as an architectural photographer, photographing this underground station was a challenge. The metal panelling of the station space creates a symbiosis between the artwork and the architecture that makes it almost impossible to separate them from one another through the choice of perspective or framing. As the architecture creates the imaginary space for the spaceship, I have documented the station as a unit. In my pictures I show the important architectural elements such as staircases, air spaces or lift shafts. At the same time, the choice of orthogonal angles emphasises the vision of the artistic concept and supports the sharp-edged nature of the architecture. You can see for yourself on the "Benrather Straße" underground station’ project page.
