Won: General planning of the Kölnmesse corporate headquarters
The ASTOC HPP consortium has won the award procedure for the general planning of Koelnmesse GmbH's corporate headquarters.
The internationally active Koelnmesse GmbH organises around 80 trade fairs and 2,000 conferences every year from Cologne. It has the special feature of a trade fair site in a direct city centre location with an ICE connection. The company's headquarters are currently located in the former Klöckner Humboldt Deutz high-rise building, designed by HPP in the early 1960s and now a listed building.
In order to further develop the 40-hectare trade fair site for the future, Koelnmesse is pursuing the Koelnmesse 3.0 investment programme, which has a budget of around 700 million euros and is based on the Cologne Trade Fair Master Plan, which ASTOC drew up in 2013/2014 as a strategic master plan for the complex structural development. The new construction of the corporate headquarters represents an important measure of the master plan, with a final construction decision expected in 2025 and a start of construction in 2026.
The design by Arge ASTOC HPP envisages a four-storey, 34,000 sqm GFA building on the current site of Hall 3, located directly at the South Entrance and opposite the Cologne Messe/Deutz ICE railway station and MesseCity. At the intersection of the two trade fair main thoroughfares, 500 office workplaces for 750 employees are to be created here. The foyer and areas for conference use and catering are planned in the base area, which is accessed from the trade fair balcony. The modern working environment of the trade fair administration is distributed over the three upper floors, which are grouped around green inner courtyards and allow a variety of flexible usage scenarios in horizontal organisation as open-space open-plan offices, cubicle offices or combined offices based on a modularly configurable grid system. The courtyard typology supports the working environment designed for high connectivity with areas for meeting, collaboration and concentration in equal measure.
The building, which is designed for DGNB Platinum certification, pursues a consistent sustainability concept. The modular construction method, in the office floors as a timber hybrid construction and with an element façade made of white ceramic cladding, as well as the use of natural and durable materials in the interior and exterior are an important contribution to climate protection. A possible future extension of the building is already conceptually envisaged. The open space concept by GREENBOX landscape architects provides for extensive greening of the square areas, pathways, inner courtyards and roof surfaces. In addition to the high ecological benefit, the open space offers a high quality of stay as a meeting and communication place, seamlessly interwoven with the existing landscape space of the trade fair and Messecity.
The unanimous jury decision stated: "The design by the ASTOC HPP planning consortium was particularly convincing due to its good placement in the urban context and the successful architectural appearance as a further entrance that develops an outstanding presence in the urban space. The challenge of combining internal use and trade fair operations was solved excellently".
Client: Kölnmesse GmbH
General Planning/Architecture: Arbeitsgemeinschaft ASTOC HPP
(ASTOC Architects and Planners GmbH, HPP Architekten GmbH)
Specialist Planning: Greenbox Landschaftsarchitekten, Winter Beratende Ingenieure für Gebäudetechnik, C-I-P Ingenieure, ARGUS Stadt und Verkehr, a.g Licht, Althoff & Lang, schellhorn & heese Ingenieure, ISRW Klapdor, HHP West, 3BX Digitale Planungs- und Baumethodik
Projectmanagement: Obermeyer
Visualisations moka-studio
Messebalkon
Magistrale
Innenhof
Büro