Gloria Tower Frankfurt
The Gloria High-Rise project creates a new, contextual addition to the skyline of Frankfurt’s banking district. MVRDV’s competition proposal incorporates a plinth of historical buildings, cantilevers outwards into an elegantly segmented tower of four vertical volumes, and culminates in a sculpted crown of rooftop terraces at a height of 195 metres. As such, the design provides a cross-section of the district’s architectural history, from the neoclassical Commerzbank building of 1905 to the climate responsive, low-energy skyscrapers that should characterise the rest of 21st Century.
- Location
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Status
- Competition
- Year
- 2025
- Surface
- 64389 m²
- Client
- Undisclosed
- Programmes
- Hotel, Mixed use, Offices, Cultural, Bar-restaurant
- Themes
- Architecture, Mixed use, Transformations, Culture
Currently occupying the site are an amalgamation of historic buildings, including the listed heritage monument of the Commerzbank building and the Gloria building – originally built in the 1920s as a residential building, this structure spent many years as a cinema, with the majority of its façade being altered multiple times as a consequence. MVRDV’s design converts these buildings into one efficient plinth, which houses a bistro and cultural institution in the Commerzbank building, while the original Gloria building serves as a lobby for the offices with hotel event spaces on the upper levels.
While the Commerzbank building and the original upper-floor façade of Gloria are preserved, the rest of the Gloria building receives a new glass façade, which is printed to show the outline of the building’s original 1920s elevation. To fully pay homage to this building’s history, the interior of Gloria references the building’s time as a cinema, with a stepped ceiling and curtains for décor – including a curtain-like relief imprint on the concrete core that supports the tower above.
From that concrete core, the tower emerges from the roof of the historic plinth and progressively expands to its full width in a series of boxy cantilevers. This transitional section houses the hotel rooms, and its façade is completed with modular panels with short, wide windows that echo the façade of the neighbouring Taunusturm Residential.
The main portion of the tower, hosting offices, is divided into four vertical volumes, responding to city regulations aimed at avoiding monotonous flat façades while also balancing considerations such as efficient floor plans and wind loads. The façade here incorporates tall, slender windows that stretch over two floors, a reference again to the Taunusturm – this time the building’s taller office tower.
However, unlike the flat façade of its neighbour, the Gloria Tower incorporates deep window frames to maximise the building’s environmental performance. These frames are angled differently on each quadrant of the tower to balance concerns such as overheating, daylight quality, energy production, and rainwater management. The transoms of the south-facing volume have the potential to incorporate building-integrated photovoltaics in order to generate energy, while those on the west, north, and east volumes are inclined to harvest rainwater, which is then funnelled to the mullions and stored in underground tanks, reducing facade staining, alleviating street-level drainage systems, and enabling sustainable water use.
At the summit of the building, the roofs of the four volumes are staggered to create a sculpted crown, while also forming three roof terraces. Two of these connect to an events and conference centre and a restaurant. These are shaded by photovoltaic canopies oriented to maximise energy production and provide shelter.
Gallery
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Credits
- Architect
- Founding Partner in charge
- Director
- Competition design team
- Physical model
- Partners
- Facade specialist:
- Faces Engineering
- Structural engineer, MEP, and building physics:
- Rambøll Danmark A/S
- Cost calculation:
- Omnicon