Almost 120 metres high, the HenningerTurm has been the emblem of the city of Frankfurt for over 50 years, as well as its tallest building. The silo with a revolving restaurant in the so-called "barrel" has been a popular destination for at least two generations of the city's inhabitants, who have always been very fond of this building.
The Henninger Tower in Frankfurt. Industrial atmosphere and glazed elements in the facade
The project, which sees the rebirth of Frankfurt's iconic landmark tower, is characterised by façade and window systems that meet high performance requirements. A safe and high-performance building in terms of thermal and acoustic properties.
Since the beginning of the 2017 summer, the emblem has shone again in the metropolis' skyline, turning into a very modern residential building. Architects MeixnerSchlüter Wendt created a cubic tower with a protruding cylindrical end ("barrel"), displaced from the axis, and emerging from a six-storey plinth construction. The 140-metre-high tower of the building contains 210 luxury apartments, a restaurant, a large viewing platform and four lofts, each about 350 square metres in size.
The tower's appearance immediately evokes the innovative industrial buildings of the 1960s. According to an interview with the architects in 2014, the silhouette would have been filled with "differentiated living views" as the project was born from the idea of giving new impetus to the "idea of living", thanks to loggias and terraces that overlook the panorama of the city at their feet. Obviously, a residential building of such qualities, has attractive common areas, such as a beautiful entrance hall and a concierge service, in the adjacent plinth building there are shops, gastronomy and fitness areas.
A project such as the Henninger Tower is not only a challenge for architects but also for suppliers of technological solutions; one of the protagonists of this project was WICONA, which developed special solutions for almost all the windows, French windows, loggias and the façade of the "barrel". WICTEC EL 60 glass-aluminium elements are the essential components of the envelope of the new Henninger tower. The residential tower consists of two transparent two-storey levels, in which loggias, terraces and windows offer residents the pleasure of their own showcase, directly under the sky and with the city at their feet.
The WICTEC EL 60 system makes it possible to create a façade with slim profiles, only 60 mm inside and outside. The particularly elegant appearance with a "frame" effect is achieved by the orthogonal cut glazing beads applied to the outside. Thanks to the thermal break laminated aluminium profiles, the system achieves up to 0.9 W/(m²K) of Ucw value, an excellent result that therefore meets the ≤ 1.0 W/(m²K) required for the tower. The prefabrication of the facade elements in the carpentry workshops in the absence of atmospheric influences ensures the highest quality possible and allows them to be quickly and precisely attached to the facade on site.
A building such as the Henninger Tower, with its highly articulated structure of loggias and terraces, requires very high safety parameters and technical features that ensure safe and comfortable living even in windy and bad weather conditions. For the window facade system, this means the certification of a special performance capacity for air-tightness, water tightness and reaction to wind load.
Special attention has also been paid to physical-constructive aspects such as thermal insulation in the summer and winter, particularly in the areas of the facade separating verandas from dwellings, which are made up of elements of the WICONA WICLINE 75 evo window system with doors from the WICSTYLE 75 evo system, two top products due to their thermal insulation properties and physical-constructive characteristics. Finally, it is important to point out that high sound insulation requirements have also been met, both between individual residential units and in all public areas.
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