Deutsche Bank skyscraper

Deutsche Bank skyscraper
	View from the Taunusanlage (2013)
Basic data
Place:	Taunusanlage 12 ; (corner of Mainzer Landstrasse , Westend-Süd )
Construction time :	1979-1984
Opening:	December 1984
Architectural style :	Modern
Architects :	Walter Hanig, Heinz Scheid, Johannes Schmidt
Use / legal
Usage :	High-rise office building, corporate headquarters
Jobs :	2,000
Technical specifications
Height :	155.0 m
Floors :	West tower: 40 upper floors, ; east tower: 38 upper floors
Usable area :	60,000 m²
Building material :	Reinforced concrete , steel , glass
Height comparison
Frankfurt am Main :	12. ( list )
Germany :	13. ( list )
Europe :	72. ( list )
address
City:	Frankfurt am Main
Country:	Germany

The Deutsche Bank skyscraper in the west end of Frankfurt am Main consists of two skyscrapers , each 155 meters high. They are also known as debit and credit , twin towers or Deutsche Bank I and II . At the time of the major renovation, the bank also used the term Greentowers . Due to their media presence, the twin towers are among the most famous buildings in Germany .

High-rise buildings with open windows after renovation (2011)

architecture

The high-rise was built between 1979 and 1984 based on designs by Walter Hanig , Heinz Scheid and Johannes Schmidt , which were commissioned by Josef Buchmann . It is located on the Taunusanlage near the Alte Oper , at the beginning of Mainzer Landstrasse and on the border of the Westend, Inner City and Bahnhofsviertel districts . The towers were originally planned as a hotel for the American hotel chain Hyatt . When the towers were taken over by Deutsche Bank , they were already under construction. Immediately in front of the main entrance are the entrances to the Taunusanlage underground station . To the south and east is the green area of the ramparts , which offer dramatic views of the building; to the west, the high-rise axis joins Mainzer Landstrasse (the Trianon , Frankfurter Büro Center and Westendstrasse 1 skyscrapers follow in a short distance ). To the north extends founder temporally dominated residential area Westend, which is protected from further high-rise buildings.

The building complex consists of three parts: a four-storey base structure and the twin towers. The buildings are complete reinforced concrete structures with mirrored glass facades.

In contrast to the neighboring Trianon skyscraper, which was built a few years later, the base construction of the Deutsche Bank skyscraper does little to adapt to the existing urban environment. It is lower than the neighboring buildings, but spreads out over a large area into the surrounding area. From the center of the facility (between the two towers), three components extend on an irregular floor plan to the east, south-west and north-west. The foot structure has numerous 45 ° angles both horizontally and vertically.

The two towers also have an irregular, but in both cases the same floor plan with many 45 ° angles and are arranged symmetrically at a distance of 13 m around the center of the facility .

As a popular backdrop in the print media and television, the building has become a symbol of the German economy, to which on the one hand the distinctive twin tower configuration contributed, and on the other hand the role of Deutsche Bank as the heart of the close interdependence of major German corporations known as Deutschland AG .

In analogy to the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York , which was destroyed in 2001 , the building is also known as “Twin Towers”, a term that has not caught on in public.

construction

The two towers share a common 4660 m² foundation slab, which is 4 m thick in the middle and tapers to 2.5 m at the edges. The slab consists of 16,122 m³ of reinforced concrete . The foundation depth is around 13 m below ground level.

renovation

In 2006 it became known that the towers had to be rebuilt due to changed fire protection regulations . On this occasion, after 22 years of use from 2007 to 2010, Deutsche Bank had the towers completely renovated. For the interior design, the bank chose a design by the Milanese architect Mario Bellini . The renovated building is certified in accordance with the American LEED Platinum standard for existing buildings and the German DGNB seal of approval . As a result of the renovation, energy consumption fell by half, water consumption by over 70 percent and CO ₂ emissions by almost 90 percent.

Deutsche Bank bought back its corporate headquarters in the summer of 2007 for EUR 272 million from a fund of its subsidiary DB Real Estate in order to be able to carry out the upcoming general renovation on its own. The bank invested around EUR 200 million in the modernization. The towers are to be sold for around 600 million euros to a closed real estate fund launched by the subsidiary DWS Investments and then leased back. The move-in date was delayed after almost three years of renovation because in November 2010 strangers opened a hydrant in both towers and flooded the building. The water flowed from the ninth and sixth floors down to the basement.

The general contractor for the technical equipment of the twin towers was Imtech . According to reports in the Handelsblatt in February 2011, the managers of subcontractors were bribed with visits to brothels, among other things. These, in turn, were allowed to bill more working hours in return at the beginning of 2010. The company had the criminalist Thomas Wüppesahl investigated internally in 2011 . However, the findings were not implemented until the Imtech crisis of 2013.

Former top managers who still resided on the top floors of Tower A were permanently housed in Taunusanlage 17 by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Clemens Börsig, in 2007 on the occasion of the renovation.

literature

Wolf-Christian Setzepfandt : Architecture Guide Frankfurt am Main / Architectural Guide . 3. Edition. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-496-01236-6 , p. 67 (German, English).