The Japanese star architect and Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando is planning a new architectural landmark for Düsseldorf: Europe’s first smart building tower. Another heavyweight on the international architecture scene, Spanish-Swiss civil engineer Santiago Calatrava, is designing an elegant high-rise sculpture in the shape of a sail. Two of many fascinating construction projects with which the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia wants to inspire its fellow citizens and also visitors.
Anyone who was not able to visit Düsseldorf last year for well-known reasons should make up for a lot of architectural highlights in the future. These include the already famous Ingenhoven Valley in downtown Düsseldorf, which we already mentioned in the last EK Connect magazine. The extraordinary commercial and office building ensemble Kö-Bogen II, which has meanwhile been renamed by the vernacular, is equipped with a total of eight kilometers of hornbeam hedge, completed in April last year, and thus forms Europe’s largest green facade.
And this certainly includes the spectacular corporate headquarters of the cosmetics group L’Oréal on Kennedydamm. Its new German headquarters, designed by architects HPP, recently won the internationally established iF Design Award 2020 in the Architecture discipline, Interior Architecture category. And that is by no means all, because Düsseldorf intends to continue providing world-class architecture in the future – with the support of absolute star architects such as Tadao Ando and Santiago Calatrava.
Setting ‘sail’ – with Santiago Calatrava
Right next to the Ingenhoven Valley, a new urban development highlight is on the horizon. On the so-called Tuchtinsel on Schadowstraße, none other than the Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava is planning an elegant and slender high-rise building over 100 meters high – in the shape of a sail!
Calatrava is known for technically demanding, spectacular buildings that have a sculptural effect, such as the Turning Torso in Malmö, the Bac de Roda bridge in Barcelona, or the Ground Zero terminal in New York, with its characteristic hall called ‘Oculus’. Currently, the multimodal station in Mons, Belgium, which he designed in his usual exceptional manner, is nearing completion. And its eagerly awaited Dubai Creek Tower is soon to replace the Burj Khalifa as the world’s tallest building.
But even though the 20-time honorary doctor is accorded the utmost respect worldwide, there is no unqualified approval for the project. Members of the high-rise advisory board of the city of Düsseldorf fear that the new tower design in its planned height and form could have a negative impact on the ensemble of the Dreischeibenhaus, Schauspielhaus and Kö-Bogen II. Christoph Ingenhoven, the architect of Kö-Bogen II, also makes critical reference to the proportions of the urban environment at the planned site.
Mörsenbroich Egg – newly composed by Tadao Ando
As a traffic junction, the Mörsenbroicher Ei has not exactly been one of the city’s most sought-after sightseeing points. Only the smart ARAG Tower, built by Lord Norman Forster in collaboration with the Düsseldorf architectural firm RKW, stands out pleasantly as the city’s tallest office building to date at 124.88 meters. But now up to three more towers are to be built on neighboring properties, significantly enhancing the neighborhood. The sensation: one of the newly planned towers is in the planning jurisdiction of Tadao Ando.
The Japanese star architect has received numerous prizes for his outstanding buildings, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is considered the Nobel Prize of architects. So far, he has earned his merits mainly for the conception of extraordinary museums, cultural institutions and residential complexes.
In Düsseldorf, he is now designing another urban landmark for the state capital at the Mörsenbroicher Ei with his striking glass tower, the TADAO ANDO Tower, which is 125 meters high – particularly characteristic due to the cantilevered glass prism that protrudes from the two sides of the high-rise building. In the process, it is setting new standards, as it is also creating the world’s first climate-neutral office tower. And because the architect has put a roof-top bar open to the public on top, the Ando Tower and the Mörsenbroicher Ei will almost certainly soon be among the best-known and most popular meeting places in the state capital.
Tuchtinsel tower – the sail as a sculptural signature
The elegant tower sail, which is over 100 meters high, is to have a surface area of around 40,000 square meters. Retail space is planned for the ground and second floors in the slender sail disc. Groundbreaking for the sensational structure is said to be expected between 2024 and 2027. Santiago Calatrava has already presented his design at a prequalifying meeting of the high-rise advisory board of the city of Düsseldorf. Accordingly, all project stakeholders and the city are involved in the planning process.
Going Green – the ‘Ingenhoven Valley
A total of around 8,000 meters of hornbeam hedge, over 30,000 plants – this green facade is what matters. This is because it is an essential component of the Kö-Bogen II commercial and office building by Ingenhoven Architects. The ensemble is part of the comprehensive urban redevelopment in the center of Düsseldorf and, with its brilliant green facade, also creates a new urban perspective on climate change. Thus, the ecological benefit of hornbeams is equivalent to that of about 80 mature deciduous trees.
Horizon – the gateway to the north of Düsseldorf
The 60-meter-high building is considered the new gateway to the north of Düsseldorf. The overarching design principle of a horizontal division gives the building its name: ‘Horizon’. By consistently dispensing with vertical façade profiles, the glass panes span freely over the floors. Due to the shifting of the floors, each office floor has a furnished outdoor terrace on the gable end. In addition to the architecture of the building, HPP architects also realized the interior design for L’Oréal. As the sole tenant, the company has a total of 22,000 square meters of office, conference, academy and restaurant space on 16 floors.
TADAO ANDO Tower – the first CO2-neutral high-rise building
The extensive greening of the exterior façade makes it possible: a total of around 5,000 square meters of trees and shrubs not only provide visual relaxation, but also ensure optimum air circulation. To this end, specially developed glass panes on the facade are to reflect up to 90 percent of the sun’s energy in summer, so that the premises heat up only slightly. In addition, a sensor-controlled network is used throughout the Ando Tower, which continuously monitors and optimizes all systems and ensures particularly efficient energy consumption. In addition, photovoltaic cells and a geothermal heat storage system improve the climate balance of the building.