Commerzbank Tower

Commerzbank Tower
Commerzbank Tower

Commerzbank Tower, Frankfurt am Main
General information
Status Complete
Type Office
Location Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany
Coordinates 50°06′38″N 8°40′27″E / 50.11056°N 8.67417°E / 50.11056; 8.67417Coordinates: 50°06′38″N 8°40′27″E / 50.11056°N 8.67417°E / 50.11056; 8.67417
Construction started 1994
Opening 1997
Cost 600,000,000 DM
Height
Antenna spire 300 m (984 ft)
Roof 259 m (850 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 56
Floor area 109,200 m2 (1,175,400 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect Norman Foster

Commerzbank Tower, located in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany, is the tallest completed skyscraper in the European Union. After it was completed in 1997 it ranked as the tallest skyscraper in Europe until 2005 when it was surpassed by the Triumph-Palace in Moscow. It will be surpassed upon the completion of Shard London Bridge in London, United Kingdom in 2012. The tower is only two metres taller than the MesseTurm which is also located in Frankfurt. The MesseTurm was the tallest building in Europe before the construction of the Commerzbank Tower.

With a height of 259 metres (850 ft), 56 stories, it provides 121,000 m² (1.3 million square feet) of office space for the Commerzbank headquarters, including winter gardens and natural lighting and air circulation. The signal light on top of the tower gives the tower a total height of 300.1 metres (985 ft).

In its immediate neighbourhood are other high-rise buildings including the Eurotower (home of the European Central Bank), the Maintower, the Silver Tower, the Japan Center and the Gallileo skyscraper. The area is commonly known as Bankenviertel (banking district or financial district).

It was designed by Foster & Partners, with Arup and Krebs & Kiefer (structural engineering), J. Roger Preston with P&A Petterson Ahrens (mechanical engineering), Schad & Hölzel (electrical engineering). Construction of the building began in 1994 and took three years to complete.

The building is illuminated at night by a yellow light scheme which was designed by Thomas Ende who was allowed to display this sequence as a result of a competition.

Contents

Features

When the building was planned in the early 1990s Frankfurt's Green Party, who governed the city together with the Social Democratic Party, encouraged the Commerzbank to design a 'green' skyscraper. The result was the world's first so-called ecological skyscraper: besides the use of 'sky-gardens', environmentally friendly technologies were employed to reduce energy required for heating and cooling.

Sky gardens

Garden on the 19th floor of the Commerzbank Tower

The Commerzbank Tower is shaped as a 60 metres (197 ft) wide rounded equilateral triangle with a central, triangular atrium. At nine different levels, the atrium opens up to one of the three sides, forming large sky gardens. These open areas allow more natural light in the building, reducing the need for artificial lighting. At the same time it ensures offices in the building's two other sides have a view of either the city or the garden.

In order to eliminate the need of supporting columns in the sky gardens, the building was constructed in steel instead of the conventional (and cheaper) concrete. It was the first skyscraper in Germany where steel was used as the main construction material.

In popular culture

  • Commerzbank Tower appears in the Euro Contemporary tileset in SimCity 4 (Deluxe or with Rush Hour).
  • In 2007, Wrebbit released a 3D puzzle from the Towers Made To Scale Collection, which includes the Commerzbank Tower and the Messeturm in one box-set.

References

See also

External links


Records
Preceded by
Messeturm
Tallest Building in Europe
1997—2005
259 m
Succeeded by
Triumph Palace
Preceded by
Messeturm
Tallest Building in the European Union
1997—Present
259 m
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Messeturm
Tallest Building in Germany
1997—Present
259 m
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Messeturm
Tallest Building in Frankfurt
1997—Present
259 m
Succeeded by
None

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Commerzbank-Tower — Commerzbank Tower …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commerzbank Tower — Localisation Localisation …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Commerzbank Tower — Commerzbank Tower …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commerzbank Tower — …   Википедия

  • Commerzbank AG — Unternehmensform Aktiengesellschaft ISIN …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft — Commerzbank AG Unternehmensform Aktiengesellschaft ISIN …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commerzbank —   Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft Staat Deutschland Sitz Frankfurt am Main …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commerzbank Verwaltungsbau — Neue Mainzer Str. 32–36 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tower 185 — Localisation Coordonnées …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Commerzbank — This article is about the bank headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. For other companies with similar names, see Commerce Bank. Commerzbank AG Type Aktiengesellschaft (FWB: CBK) …   Wikipedia

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