WestendGate canopy, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
WestendGate canopy, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
“Plaza Büro Center” in Frankfurt’s Westend district was built in the 1970s. The 159 m high building, containing a hotel and offices, was for a short time Germany’s tallest skyscraper. Extensive refurbishment work, planned by the architectural practice Just Burgeff Architekten, began in 2008. The aim of the architectural and energy-efficient redesign of the façade and office floors is to ensure compliance with all the demands placed on a modern offices and hotel complex. Renamed “WestendGate”, future users will be greeted by a prestigious new canopy facing Hamburger Allee. This new “organic” tree structure grabs the attention of passers-by, even from farther afield. Five columns, each consisting of four steel circular hollow sections, support the canopy. They rise vertically 2–3 m out of the pavement before they branch out like a tree. These “branches” in turn support a totally free arrangement of steel channels with numerous high and low points.
As the two columns in front of the entrance to the office wing are about 3 m taller than those in front of the hotel lobby, this entrance gains an additional accent. On plan the canopy consists of 79 different polygons. Each of these panels required a different two-layer ETFE foil cushion supplied by seele cover. The aluminium frames to the cushions are fixed to lugs that are welded into the channel structure. To prevent overheating below the canopy, the upper layer of ETFE has been printed with a pattern of dots (50% coverage). Rainwater on the canopy drains into the channels and from there to the columns. One “branch” per column serves as a downpipe.
