CentrO Oberhausen at Christmas Time II – Soundscape from The First Floor

The CentrO Obehrausen is one of Europe’s biggest shopping and entertainment malls. Opened in 1996, there are now more than 250 shops on 2 floors and 125.000 square metres. A multiplex cinema, the aquarium sealife, a large musical venue and an amusement park compliment what has been called “the new centre of Oberhausen”.
However, the CentrO is a result of structural change. Since 1758 various ironworks had been located at the site and surrounding areas of today’s CentrO. As Gutehoffnungshütte it became one of Germany’s biggest ironworks and machine construction concerns in the 20th century. Its slow dissolution began in the 1980ies, partly as a consequence of the steel crisis. The MAN AG, to which the Gutehoffnungshütte belonged at that time, moved the headquarters from Oberhausen to Munich. The area became an industrial wasteland until British investors proposed to build the CentrO. Demolition of the ironworks and construction of the shopping mall and amusement centres began in 1992.
The sounds of the Gutehoffnungshütte have disappeared for good. Now you hear the sounds of consume and entertainment.
This is a soundscape recording from the first floor of the shopping mall. You can hear the voices and steps of many people, snippets of conversations and coughing as well as distant music from the shops.
Sound Recordist: Konrad Gutkowski
Photographer: Kathinka Engels