Foster and Partners designed the tower for Commerzbank. Construction began in 1994 and took three years. The roof is 850 feet (259 m) high, and the building reaches 985 feet (300.1 m) with its antenna spire. It has 56 floors.
The plan is a rounded equilateral triangle 197 feet (60 m) wide, with a central triangular atrium. Nine sky gardens sit at levels where the atrium opens to one of the three sides, giving winter gardens with natural light and air circulation. The structure is steel rather than concrete, to avoid supporting columns in the sky gardens. The article calls it the first skyscraper in Germany to use steel as the main construction material.
The article gives its tenure as the tallest building in the European Union as 1990 to 1997, though the tower was completed in 1997. It was two meters taller than the Messeturm, which had been Europe's tallest before it.
Comments