Description

The steam converting station of the Stadtwerke Frankfurt supplies the development area Deutsch­herrnufer and is situated in the eastern part of the city. The new building is part of an urban layout that features nearly all the infrastructure vital to urban life. The well-designed functional building is part of a block and is attached in the east to a row of five-storey buildings with gambrel roofs.

The building is a six-storey structure with a full basement storey; it is penetrated by a passage to the courtyard on the ground, first and second floor. To the right of the passage and in full width of the building the vertical circulation areas of this and the neighbouring building are located. The eastern wing, the power house, accommodates the steam converting station with the transformer station. It also contains staff rooms and sanitary rooms, storage rooms and spaces for the main power distribution as well as electrical equipment and wiring. The three top floors are extensions of the neighboring hotel. On the top floor an exhibition space with a separate lift for visitors is planned.

The power house comprises the basement and roughly three-and-a-half levels above ground. In the passage area large machinery such as heat exchangers can be brought in or out via crane tracks and a 7.20 m tall sliding gate. From the staircase a two-storey bridge in the courtyard passage provides access to secondary spaces. Additional steel platforms and spiral steel stairs create internal access to all levels within the power house.

The building is a reinforced concrete structure. As it is situated within the flooding area of the Main river the basement received a tanking of waterproof concrete. The well considered composition of the building – which has a simple and functional interior – gives the exterior a balanced and exciting appearance. Open and closed areas and forms structure the façades. The exterior walls received a ventilated facing layer of dark violet brick; while the cube-shaped power house in the passage area and the large façade element with balconies and French windows facing the Main river have a bright grey and smooth exposed concrete finish. Christoph Mäckler highlighted the rows of windows of the three hotel floors with prominent red and white shutters.

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Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.