ANNOUNCEMENT September 16, 2014
Frankfurt /Main
SKYWARD
High-Rise City Frankfurt
November 8, 2014 – April 19, 2015
Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM),
Frankfurt/Main
OPENING: Fri, Nov 7, 2014, 7 p.m.
PRESS CONFERENCE: Thurs, Nov 6, 2014, 11 a.m.
View oft he high-rise city Frankfurt © Photo: Uwe Dettmar
Deutsches Architekturmuseum demonstrates how and why Frankfurt rose to such
architectural heights, offering visitors a skyline tour of the history of the city’s high-rises
Frankfurt builds – skyward
Starting with post-war reconstruction, the history of high-rise city Frankfurt then covers the era of land
speculation and the house squatting movement, and stretches all the way to the present world of global
finance markets. In the exhibition, selected buildings are classified in terms of the history of architecture
and placed in the sociopolitical, economic and cultural context of the relevant era.
Arranged in clusters, individual high-rise buildings and projects are presented using historical
photographs, drawings and models. Various high-rise plans from 1953 right up to the 2008 high-rise
development plan which is still in force today, place these buildings both in their urban planning context
and in a chronological and topographical one.
The development resulting in high-rise city Frankfurt
Once it had been decided in 1949 that Frankfurt was not to be the capital of the Federal Republic, the city
was once again destined to emerge as the most important German banking center. Classic historical
edifices produced at the beginning of the 1950s such as the AEG high-rise and the Juniorhaus (1951), the
Bayer-Haus (1952) and the Bienenkorbhaus (Beehive House, 1954) marked the start of high-rise
construction in Frankfurt.
In the 1960s and 1970s Frankfurt became established as a financial metropolis with banks and insurance
companies building their skyscrapers in the Westend district and around the Taunusanlage subway
station. The results were financial speculation and exorbitant rents – to which locals responded with
demonstrations and squatting campaigns. The “high-rise boxes” gave Frankfurt a bad name and it was
soon dubbed “Bankfurt” and “Krankfurt”. It was not until the end of the 1970s that postmodern buildings
such as the Messeturm (1991) started helping to improve the image of the city’s high-rises which have
subsequently gained increasing acceptance with the general public and the “skyline” has now become
something to identify with.
Today, a host of high-rises along Neue Mainzer Straße forms what is known as the “bank gorge”. Grouped
around the Commerzbank Tower (1997) and the Main Tower (1999), the skyscrapers form the Frankfurt
skyline.
PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
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SKYWARD – High-Rise City Frankfurt
Frankfurt/ Main 16/09/2014
Unbuilt Frankfurt
The exhibition also allows visitors to experience the Frankfurt that was never built. Alongside different
development plans for the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and for the Westend district the show
presents visionary designs for the Campanile (1985), the Millennium-Tower (1999) and many more
besides.
A particular discovery is the competition design by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe dating from 1968 for a
Commerzbank Tower on Neue Mainzer Straße. If it had been realized, this almost unknown design by
Mies van der Rohe would have been his only high-rise in Germany.
New developments
Frankfurt is subject to constant change. The office towers dating from the 1970s and 1980s have been the
subject of comprehensive revitalization measures – one example being the Dresdner Bank high-rise
(1978) which boasts a shiny new look after being revitalized in 2011 and dubbed the Silberturm (Silver
Tower). Another model is being tested in the Niederrad business district. Here the city is attempting to
convert empty office buildings into residential high-rises. In recent times this trend towards vertical living
has started to become fashionable. Luxury apartments above the rooftops are now becoming reality with
the residential high-rises of Henninger Turm on the Sachsenhäuser Berg and Tower 2 on Europa-Allee.
Other buildings have had to be cleared completely. Blasting the AfE Tower (1972) this year has made
room for future urban developments of the kind already in evidence in other locations such as the Palais
Quartier, the Maintor Quartier and along Europe Allee and projected for Gateway Gardens.
An extensive, lavishly illustrated book, “High-Rise City Frankfurt. Buildings and Visions since
1945”, will be published by Prestel Verlag to mark the occasion, as will a new high-rise book for
children.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive events program with keynote lectures and guided
tours. Moreover, Souvenir Frankfurt will be the guest of DAM – with products specially developed for the
exhibition on all aspects of the subject of high-rise on sale.
Press photos for announcements and for the duration of the exhibition at www.dam-online.de/press
DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM
Press and Public Relations
Schaumainkai 43, D-60596 Frankfurt am Main, www.dam-online.de
Brita Köhler, Dipl.-Ing. (FH)
T +49 (0)69.212 363 18 \ F +49 (0)69.212 363 86 \ brita.koehler@stadt-frankfurt.de
Lisa Katzenberger, cand. Arch.
T +49 (0)69.212 313 26 \ F +49 (0)69.212 363 86 \ lisa.katzenberger@stadt-frankfurt.de
PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
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