The "Glasarkade des Wissenschaftsparks Gelsenkirchen" project has been built within the framework of the "Emscher Park" International Building Exhibition, whose aim is to promote structural changes in the Ruhr area with the planning of future-oriented research and development projects.

   
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Kiessler has designed a future workshop situation incorporating "a large social space in the spirit of Hans Scharoun" on the land formerly occupied by the Rhine-Elbe coal mine and Thyssen Steel Works and pursuant to the "working in the park" guidelines set down by the exhibition organizers.

The 300 m long glass arcade constitutes the west façade of a three story gallery building to which nine pavilions for research and development organizations are attached. The public is free to move through the park and walk along the arcade, while a business entrance opens to the east with access to an underground parking.

The construction is of unadorned reinforced concrete, steel, aluminum and timber, with a minimum of white painted plastered walls and clad ceilings in the gallery circulation areas. Elevations to the east use a 1.44 m repetitive modular unit comprising fixed glass, a ventilation panel and French windows opening to a continuous maintenance balcony.

The nine pavilions and the long gallery provide 19.200 m2 of offices and laboratories. The arcade, 10 m wide, is climate controlled, and the public concourse between work area and park is protected behind glass in the winter. During the summer, however, the lower row of panels, each 7 m wide and 4.5 m high, that runs along the length of the lake, can be opened up to the sky with electrically operated pulleys controlled by the building services computer.

Dan Flavin's participation in the Glasarkade is one of his final public works. Flavin's minimalist style engages in an artistic dialogue with the peculiar characteristics of the architecture. His light intervention defines and accentuates the glass arcade. The arcade is illuminated at sundown with a blue and green light which is concentrated on the elevator towers and completed by a single horizontal light line. The installation follows the rhythm and longitudinal movement of the architecture while, at the same time, breaking it with the light sources that arise from the inside of the building and get projected towards the outside.

A solar energy plant sponsored by the European Commission and said to be the largest in the world has been mounted on the roof. Rows of glass panels oriented towards the south and made up of 123 x 123 m solar cells produce 200,000 kw a year, which are fed into the national grid. Over its 30 year life expectancy, the solar plant will prevent the emission of 4500 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Heat obtained from the arcade façade is used to heat water and the exposed concrete ceiling slabs double as heat storage elements. These factors, along with insulation and the glasshouse effect, and the control of external blinds and natural ventilation by a building management computer, constitute a singularly efficient instance of passive energy saving. The ornamental lake, used during the summer as an open air swimming pool, has a double role as rainwater reserve.