project: refurbishment of Nord Stream 2  year: 2022, type: open project program: capsule hotel, cultural centre, walk of freedom, language school, working spaces area: 215.000 m2, architecture: Opposite Office team: Benedikt Hartl, Thomas Haseneder model: Vincent Kern,  Leon Wipfler,  location: Nord Stream 2, Lubmin, Germany

After Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, the German government has halted approval of the operating name of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. Opposite Office was commissioned to design an alternative concept for the Baltic Sea pipeline. Hereby the area of the German landing station in Lubmin near Greifswald will be reused and transformed into a center for international understanding. 600m of laid pipes will be retrieved from the sea and serve as construction material.

​

Nord Stream 3 is a program of the German government for peace and international understanding. The pipes of Nord Stream 2 with a diameter of 1.153m will be converted into a house with 194 sleeping berths. These 194 sleeping berths will be randomly drawn each month to people around the world so that each country can occupy one sleeping berth. This one-month stay, which is free for all, aims to bring together diverse people from all classes, cultures, religions and nations. This creates an intercultural exchange that makes friendships possible and breaks down prejudices. On the now unused site of the German landing station, buildings are being converted into a large assembly hall for discussion rounds, a foreign language school, workshops, galleries and cultural meeting places. 

​

The aim is to create space for an exchange of interests and mutual input from the citizens of the global community. In the discussion of climate, social, health and economic policy issues, participants contribute their ideas, values and maxims of action, negotiate them at eye level and thus carry new implications, inspirations and impulses back to their countries of origin. At the level of civil society, transformations can thus be enabled and shaped from below, supported by an international, multicultural process of exchange, networking and cooperation. Instead of an assembly of top diplomats and state leaders, a United Nations General Assembly of the little people, the citizens of this world, is emerging.