Aachener Strasse: Triangle

16. maart 2021

© O&O Baukunst Köln GmbH

The triangular building type creates a strong visual identity and an open character in the new city district. With its building edges of varying lengths and rounded corners, this building typology oscillates between solitaire and block. It thus succeeds in creating spatial references, reflecting angles and changing directions. The result is an open building structure that responds to the specific site conditions.

Office, commercial and residential buildings
Location:                                  Cologne Müngersdorf
Client:                                        RTL Medien Group
Competition:                          invited competition in 2004
Project status:                        Competition completed, 1st prize
GFA new building:                80,000 m²
GFA old building:                  8,500 m²
Function:                                  office, commercial and residential

The RTL site is located on Aachener Strasse in western Cologne. To the north, the site borders the Klostergärten park of the former Zum guten Hirten monastery, while Aachener Strasse is located to the south. The development of the approximately 20,000 m2 site is intended to create a new city district that will offer users and residents a high quality of life.

The project extends into the entire depth of the site. The design of the ensemble reacts to the special features of the site. The buildings are staggered, creating public spaces between them that link the site to its surroundings. The individual buildings, the triangles, are interconnected by a building base which forms an edge to the busy Aachener Strasse and opens outwards to the park. The design of the buildings shows unity with simultaneous diversity. The result is an interplay of topography, architecture and nature that gives the new urban district its spatial dramaturgy. A modern skyline is created as the entryway to the city of Cologne.