Düsseldorf MedienHafen

The harbour handled cargo until traffic declined, and from the 1990s the city redeveloped the basins as a media and design quarter, keeping the quay walls, cranes and cobbles and inserting new buildings among the old warehouses. The Neuer Zollhof of 1999 by Frank Gehry is three connected buildings, one white plaster, one red brick, one polished steel, each with walls that curve and lean so no window is quite square. The Rheinturm nearby, 240 metres, carries a line of lights up its shaft that works as a decimal clock, reading hours, minutes and seconds. Old cranes remain on the quays.

What you actually see

• The Gehry buildings - three leaning structures in plaster, brick and steel.
• The Rheinturm clock - a tower whose lights read the time as a decimal display.
• The kept infrastructure - quay walls, cobbles and cranes from the working port.
• The converted warehouses - old harbour buildings reused among new ones.

When to go

April to October; the quarter is a business district by day and a restaurant area by evening. The tower observation deck is open year-round.

Honest expectations

It is a working office district, not a visitor attraction, and quiet at weekends. Interiors are private. The tower deck is separately ticketed.

Nearby

Düsseldorf's old town lies north; the Rhine runs alongside.