The moving play of reflections of slightly distorted structures, of shadow and light, superposed by the shiny red ceramic surface and its light

Transcription

1 The Roman Wall Colour impressions in one of the most spectacular shopping malls realized in recent years. Roman architect Massimiliano Fuksas had the genius idea of an eccentric as well as effectful eye-catcher for the shopping and leisure centre»myzeil«on the»zeil«, Frankfurt s busy shopping street, finished in February 2009: a signalred glazed ceramic wall at the arrival of the express escalators on the 4 th floor. Vertical shopping on seven floors MyZeil is an integrant part of the revitalised Palais quarter in Frankfurt s city centre. It is the innovative prototype of a modern shopping and leisure world. Along with functionality and efficiency, light flood, spatiality, opening up, communication as well as verticality are combined as essential project features for the first time in this form. - The bored customer is to be challenged. A new architecture has been developed; this goes for the outside as well as the inside appearance which captivates by its spacious sculpturality. Vertical shopping on floors needs its exclusivity. An amorphous glass landscape, evoking the creative idea of a canyon, stretches along the whole building complex and creates a daylight-lit ambiance. Fluid spaces evolve, which offer interesting view relations across all floors of the building. Reflexions in red Massimiliano Fuksas idea takes this as a starting point in order to create a central eye catcher of almost dazzling colours, whilst the whole mall colour reservation dominates so as not to let the architecture be in competition with the mostly colourful window displays. The levels from ground floor to 4 th and 2 nd floor respectively are accessible from two areas via shifted escalators. The express escalators connecting the ground floor directly and without a pedestal with the 4 th floor are situated in the main entrance area and create an additional particular tension in relation with the action landscape on this level. The piazza with its gastronomy utilisation and its access points to the functional areas - fitness, wellness and kids world above is outshined by a slightly vaulted, shiny red glazed ceramic façade carried away by its borders towards the spatial depth, demonstrates its horizontality thanks to the 202x600 mm tiles groove structure especially developed by the manufacturer MOEDING Keramikfassaden GmbH, Marklkofen (Germany). The horizontality is furthermore underlined by red neon lines freely arranged all over the ceramic surface. The Eastern volume, covered up with fire polished stainless steel, diffusely reflects the red concentrated on this level in the room.

2 The moving play of reflections of slightly distorted structures, of shadow and light, superposed by the shiny red ceramic surface and its light lines, can be seen by different points of view, as for example from the entrance area on the ground floor, and plays the role of a background and destination point of the express escalators. These colour reflexions, downright virtuosic and dispersing in all directions, underline the atmosphere quietly from the background, without hiding or outweighing the architectonic pretension of reservation in colour signs

3 Project data Project name: Awarding authority: Architects: Urbanistic: development planning: Structural framework: Façade planning: MyZeil das Shopping-Center, Frankfurt PalaisQuartier GmbH & Co. KG through MAB Development GmbH Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto, Rome/Italy KSP Engel und Zimmermann Architekten, Frankfurt am Main Krebs und Kiefer Beratende Ingenieure für das Bauwesen GmbH, Darmstadt Weischede Herrmann und Partner GmbH, Stuttgart IFFT Institut für Fassadentechnik FFM Karlotto Schott, Frankfurt am Main Special constructions Roof and facade: Inner decoration facade: Electrical engineering: Fire protection: Conveyor technique: Heating / ventilation / air conditioning / sanitary: Knippers Helbig advanced engineering, Stuttgart MOEDING Keramikfassaden GmbH, Marklkofen Dörflinger und Partner, Ingenieurbüro VBI, Hamburg hhpberlin, Ingenieurgesellschaft für Brandschutz mbh, Berlin Lüsebrink Ingenieure VBI, Hamburg PB Peter Berchtold Ingenieurbüro für Energie und Haustechnik, Sarnen/Switzerland Building physics: VRP Bauphysik Ingenieurbüro von Rekowski und Partner, Weinheim Plot size: m 2 Rentable surface: ,54 m 2 Floor area: overground ,60 m 3 underground ,19 m 3 Gross room volume: overground ,21 m 3 underground ,94 m 3 Completion: February 2009

4 The main façade, entirely in glass, becomes part of the organically formed steel/glass roof and through its trumpet-like form invites passers-by to direct their view across the building towards the sky: first hint of the mall s spectacular indoors evolution.

5 Stainless steel cladding as well as the roof, entirely out of glass, and partly falling deep into the inside of the building, create undefined, fortuitous reflections that mirror the clay tile façade s red, even into the lower floors.

6 Thanks to the Eastern volume s fire polished stainless steel cladding, interesting reflections of slightly distorted structures come into being, overlaid by the red glazed clay tile façade and its freely arranged light lines.

7 The materiality and chromaticity of the red glazed ceramic façade particularly leave their mark on the big Northern volume above the 4 th floor, in contrast to the mall s overall contained colour design.

8 The effect of the red glazed clay tile façade calculated by the architect comes into its own all the more in combination with the irregularly arranged light lines which create additional tension: impressive reflections on the steel/glass roof construction as well as on the fire polished stainless steel cladding.

9 The red glazed clay tile façade is visible right from the entrance area and leads to the destination of the express escalators on the 4 th floor. From here it sends out diffusely dispersed reflections across the different levels of the mall.

10 Thanks to its situation, the clay tile façade s colourful materiality stays discretely in the background and pleasantly accompanies the ambiance of the mall.

11 The grooving of the red glazed clay tile façade creates a play of light and shadow, even at the micro level. The horizontality of the wall is underlined at the same time by the freely arranged neon light lines.

12