One of My Favorite Places: Tetrahedron ('Tetraeder') Bottrop

A tetrahedron is a three-dimensional figure with four equilateral triangles.

The Tetrahedron (or "Tetraeder" in German) in Bottrop is about 50 kilometers away from my current home town. It can already be seen from a great distance and symbolizes the change through which the Ruhr Area has gone. This futuristic landmark is made of steel tubes and twisted castings and thus also represents the region's steel industry.

Some facts about this landmark: The Tetrahedron is 60 meters high. 210 tons of steel (1,500 meters of tubes) were used to build it. There are three platforms at different heights (18 m, 32 m, 38 m), the third platform is inclined by 8 degrees. The landmark was first opened on October 3, 1994.

More photos of this impressive structure can be found on my blog:

[vuileasbak]

as someone who likes to photograph architectures this is a wet dream
especially after sundown
might make a day of it driving there sometime with the misses
and drive back with a smile on my face .... and the misses with a grinn :-)

[marianwhit]

Alexander Graham Bell would have LOVED this!

[cinammondream]

thank you so much. I was meant to go on a field trip to here but it got cancelled because of Covid-19. I am writing a paper about it now instead and I loved the video and found it helpful.

[TheGermanNemesis]

Ein sehr gut gemachtes und sehr interessantes Video. Danke für´s Reinstellen.

[INFIDELxSTRONG]

i can see why you like this place. it's very cool.

[thesurvivalexpert]

slow eery and ominous walk the stairs could it get any more epic :P

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@ristin59 No, this structure is not about Germany in general, it's about the industrial history of a specific region in Germany, the Ruhr Area.

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@ATF6281914 This steel structure is built atop a huge mining dump. Steel and coal once drove the economy of this area (the Ruhr Area is the largest industrial agglomeration in Europe). But the times of steel and coal are long over. The Tetrahedron symbolizes the transition from a traditional industrial society to a modern service society. - When the structure was built, people asked the same question: What's the point of this thing? Today they are proud of this popular landmark.

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@ATF6281914 Actually there is a geocache - not on the structure itself but nearby. You have to count the steps to the third platform and the number of steel cables. From these numbers you are supposed to calculate the coordinates of the geocache. And yes, I found it. ;-)

[Cris.P.Baconn]

so cool!!!

thanks 4 sharing this with us, i hope to visit europe someday(including Germany of course)

German, Russian, Chinese are the hardest of several languages i would love to learn(maybe not to perfection, but understand it.... Read it at least)

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@TheGermanNemesis Danke fürs Anschauen!

[bigbubba]

Wow! that is quite the unique structure. Sure looks fun to play on :)

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@TheLazySpoiledKitty Yeah, I know what you mean. This place is really special. I like to come here on a week day if I get the time. On the weekends this place is crowded.

[koioo]

very mice, if you at top of this building art form gives new energy

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@Valerieannleeh Thank you! - I like this video a lot, too, but not many people have watched it. Look at the low number of "Likes" compared to my other videos (btw, thanks for increasing this number). I guess the vid is too long, maybe I should have shortened it.

[theuncalledfor]

Horrible, ugly, lifeless, abstract sculpture.
I love it. I _need_ to go there!
_It's so beautiful._

[ATF_CA]

@stschmalhaus
I see. Thanks for the clarification.

Sounds like an easy one :P
You should come on my side of town for some caching. There's this one stretch of highway that has a cache every 530 feet. You could easily get hundreds in one day.

[Suzla]

At least Germany still has some industry. We used to be big in shipbuilding in Britain, but Thatcher closed it all and destroyed whole communities, saying it would go over to third world countries, but much of it is in rich countries like Japan now.

[TheLazySpoiledKitty]

Well its kinda weird in a good way though!!! But also beutiful at the same time. Am i making any sense lol?? Anyway great video Stefon!

[StefanSchmalhaus]

@vuileasbak LOL... Yes, this place is a photographer's dream. A few kilometers away is another interesting industrial site: Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord - landschaftspark (dot) de