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June 2010
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RHEINAUHAFEN COLOGNE
Already a cultural hub, Cologne’s creative qualities are now getting another boost – harbourside. Neville Walker reports
Cologne has made a good living from its position astride the Rhine throughout its history, but by the end of the 20th century the Rhineland metropolis faced the problem of redundant quaysides, common to harbours worldwide. The late-19th-century Rheinauhafen had outlived its original purpose, but with a prime riverside site stretching almost 2km south from Cologne’s old town and with some impressive warehouse architecture, its potential was clear. With London’s Docklands as the template, plans were made under the aegis of the City of Cologne and the Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG – the dock company – to transform 15.4ha of jetties into a traffic-free urban quarter, with master planning by Hamburg architects Bothe Richter Teherani. Construction began in 2002, by late 2009 the last four plots were being sold and completion is scheduled for 2011, when the 235,000m2 area will be split between 30% residential, 45% commercial and 25% cultural uses.
Local people have already taken the Rheinauhafen to their hearts. In a city where the dense medieval street pattern doesn’t allow for much in the way of sunlit vistas, its traffic-free promenades have become a favoured place to stroll or jog. The site is peppered with restaurants and cafés whose sunny terraces fill swiftly on fine days.
Bothe Richter Teherani is responsible for the architectural icon without which no urban regeneration project is complete. Its three, striking, crane-shaped blocks – the Kranhäuser – provide the contemporary counterpoint to the seven gables of the historic Siebengebirge warehouses, their spacing echoing the repetition of the old dock’s heavy cranes, strung out along the quay. Repetition here conceals diversity, for while the middle and southern blocks each contain around 22,680m2 of offices, the northernmost Kranhaus contains Pandion AG’s Vista residential development.
The Kranhäuser have duly fulfilled their icon role, with Kranhaus 1 carrying off the business award at the 2009 MIPIM property conference in Cannes. Commenting on the win, Cologne mayor Fritz Schramma said: “The three Kranhäuser are increasingly acknowledged as modern symbols of the city, and also stand for the innovation, dynamism and modernity of Cologne.”
Cologne may be ringed by chemical plants, but it’s also Germany’s biggest media centre, home to broadcasters RTL and WDR and to television production companies such as Granada and Grundy Light Entertainment. It has Germany’s biggest university and largest technical college and has staked a claim as a centre for such future-oriented industries as biotechnology and games.
Unsurprisingly, there’s much forward-thinking in Rheinauhafen. At its southern tip is the KAP Forum, a think tank created by nine firms active in architecture and design. Holger Jahnke, director of office
furnisher specialist Wilkahn, a participating company, says: “The KAP community is a one-of-a-kind, contemporary answer to the demands of a knowledge-based society that focuses on information, cooperation and interconnection.”
Similar themes are evident at ArtOffice’s state-of-the-art RheinauArtOffice complex – since August 2008 the regional base for Microsoft Deutschland. The software house is the principal tenant, but is also home to associated companies, 12 of whom are co-tenants. The RheinauArtOffice’s barrier-free internal spaces have allowed Microsoft to realise its vision of a new work world, from integrated messaging and communications to an Executive Briefing Center in which customers can view the latest software and hardware developments.
The Rheinauhafen has also attracted Park Plaza Hotels, which opened the latest of their boutique-style Art’otels there in March. As with all Art’otels, the €45m, 218-room property showcases the work of a single artist, in this case Korean artist SEO. The environmentally friendly design incorporates water-saving technology and intelligent control systems for ventilation and cooling. Art’otels are typically found in iconic locations such as Budapest, Dresden and Berlin, so the selection of Cologne – to be followed by Amsterdam and London – is a vote of confidence in both the city and the Rheinauhafen. As Park Plaza Hotels’ CEO Boris Ivesha says: “Business and leisure travellers visiting the inspiring city of Cologne will appreciate the sophisticated design and colourful art experience.”
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