North Rhine-Westphalia showcases some of the world's most spectacular and award-winning architecture, featuring remarkable structures that range from exposed concrete churches to hill-shaped residential buildings. These eight distinctive buildings, designed by renowned international architects, have become defining landmarks of their respective regions.
The Museum Marta in Herford stands as one of the most unusual museum buildings worldwide, designed by American architect Frank O. Gehry. With its flowing and tilting walls, the museum features dark red bricks for the facade that contrast sharply with the bright stainless steel roof and white-plastered building core. When the Museum for Art, Architecture and Design opened in 2005 near the main train station, it sparked both enthusiasm and significant resistance, as critics deemed the approximately 30 million euro construction project too expensive.
In the rural landscape between Wachendorf and Rißdorf, the Brother Klaus Field Chapel immediately catches the eye of passersby. This uniquely shaped concrete tower, standing 12 meters high, was designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and opened in 2007, donated by farmer Hermann-Josef Scheidtweiler and his wife Trudel. The chapel's construction involved an innovative technique: 112 spruce trees from the Bad Münstereifel forest were assembled into a tent-shaped construction inside the structure, and after the concrete hardened, the wooden logs were set on fire, leaving the interior permanently soot-black with an opening in the roof that allows both light and rain to enter.
The Diocesan Library in Münster, designed by architect Max Dudler and opened in 2005, resembles an oversized bookshelf with its 70-meter-long box-shaped sandstone structure featuring multiple openings that look like gaps in a book wall. Located northwest of the old town, the library houses 700,000 books and has received numerous accolades, including the North Rhine-Westphalia Architecture Prize 2007, special recognition at the German Natural Stone Prize 2007, and the "Award for Exemplary Buildings in North Rhine-Westphalia 2010."
The new Bensberg Town Hall in Bergisch Gladbach was constructed in the late 1960s according to designs by architect Gottfried Böhm. Wall remnants of the old medieval castle ruins that once stood there were incorporated into the building's construction, and preserved castle towers were integrated into the new structure. Completed in 1971, the new building consists of exposed concrete and is dominated by the sculpturally shaped stair tower in the town hall courtyard. The building has been under monument protection since 1982.
The residential hills in Marl, designed by Stuttgart architects Peter Faller, Fritz Frey, and Hermann Schröder, were considered a unique housing experiment in Europe when construction began in 1966. The innovative design attracted massive public interest, with 20,000 people touring the model apartments south of the city center in a single weekend. Four closed residential units are stacked on top of each other like a mountain, earning them the nickname "hill houses." Each of the 46 apartments features its own terrace or garden, similar to a row house. Three additional residential hills were built by 1982, and these hill houses inspired numerous imitations both domestically and internationally.
The Marian Cathedral in Neviges, located in the Velbert district, serves as a prime example of 1960s architecture. The unusual forms of the building—interlocked cubes resembling a jagged rock, asymmetrical and expressive—are characteristic of the Brutalist architectural style. The church is built entirely from exposed concrete, and the first mass was celebrated in Gottfried Böhm's designed church in 1968. Since 1995, the building has been under monument protection and is considered one of the most significant church buildings of the 20th century.
The 2019 completed extension of the Sauerland Museum in Arnsberg represents a modern complement to the medieval existing museum building. A bridge with viewing windows connects the old and new buildings while offering views over the city of Arnsberg and the Ruhr River. The Stuttgart architectural firm BezKock has already received numerous awards for this construction, including the Architecture Prize of the Association of German Architects (BDA) NRW 2021 and the BDA Architecture Prize Südwestfalen 2020.
The Neuer Zollhof in Düsseldorf, designed by American architect Frank O. Gehry, symbolizes the structural transformation of Düsseldorf's Media Harbor southwest of the city center. The buildings, opened in 1999 and also called "Gehry Buildings," consist of three sculptural, organically shaped structures that submit to no geometry and differ in materiality, height, and formal language. The harbor-facing "Building A" is completely brick-clad and angularly deformed, while the central "Building B" features a wavy stainless steel facade that reflects the surrounding environment. The white-plastered "Building C" is characterized by interlocked large-format curves, creating a distinctive architectural ensemble that has become synonymous with the area's urban renewal.
