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Architects: Meixner Schlüter Wendt
- Area: 37800 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Christoph Kraneburg, Lars Gruber
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Manufacturers: Sto, Hupfeld&Schlöffel Metallbau GmbH, Knauf, Schüco
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Lead Architects: Claudia Meixner, Florian Schlüter, Martin Wendt, Stephan Rosa
Text description provided by the architects. Right on the waterfront in Frankfurt’s Osthafen district, the new office building The Docks comes together with Dock 2.0, a slab-like existing structure, to create a homogenous ensemble. The area surrounding this new office building is dotted with industrial complexes and warehouse facilities and characterized by the uniquely special atmosphere of a container port.
What immediately springs to mind is associations with terms such as “storage”, “stacking”, “moving” and “shifting”. Along with the usage requirement for various “attachable” elements, these terms were the starting point for an edifice whose structure, shape, and appearance fit in instinctively with the look and feel of the Osthafen.
While the façade facing Lindleystrasse is divided up into three sections and boasts a calm appearance, the side giving onto the wet dock has been inspired by bright stacks of shipping containers, with a many-hued façade that integrates the building into the port environment. These features result in the façade structure facing the harbor, which uses prefabricated, folded trapezoidal sheets to form a simple, functional office façade. It develops an associative presence and thus enhances the site.
As in the external appearance, the design of the interior spaces also reflects the ambivalence of the building task and the location. High, inviting foyers along the street frontage greet employees and visitors alike as they enter the building.
State-of-the-art office premises with central, excess-width corridors and floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as inviting and lavishly greened sun decks are the most salient features of these offices in their exceptional waterfront location. Loggias giving onto the wet dock and large roof terraces with views of the ECB and the skyline utilize the advantages of the setting.
