Kö-Bogen II

Kö-Bogen II marks the conclusion of an extensive urban renewal project in the heart of Düsseldorf. The commercial and office building represents a paradigm shift: With Europe’s largest green façade – 8 kilometres of hornbeam hedges, over 30,000 plants – the ensemble offers an architectural response to climate change. From an urban perspective, it signals the departure from the automotive era and a turn towards people-oriented planning. Giving back as much green as possible to the city is a task that the practice has been working on for decades and across different climate zones. With its supergreen® concept, the office is taking a comprehensive approach to sustainability. Today, at the site where an elevated motorway once dominated the landscape, the Hofgarten has moved back into the heart of the city. Kö-Bogen II was developed in response to the existing urban situation. With their sloping facades turned towards each other, the five-storey, trapezoidal main building, together with its smaller, triangular counterpart, form a dynamic entrance to Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz. The composition of the green facades is inspired by Land Art and enables the new building complex to oscillate in a deliberate indeterminacy between city and park. The whole ensemble opens up the view to icons of post-war modernism – the clear austerity of the Dreischeibenhaus [1960] and the buoyant lightness of the Schauspielhaus [1970], whose renovation was also undertaken by the practice. Kö-Bogen II is a contemporary response to these two historic landmarks, without competing with them. Since 1992, the office has been pursuing the idea of redesigning the centre of Düsseldorf. With studies, urban planning concepts, and concrete projects, he has provided essential impulses for the evolution of a city that was long oriented towards cars and the unimpeded flow of traffic. The hornbeam was intentionally selected as a native hardwood species that keeps its leaves in winter. A comprehensive phytotechnological concept was developed together with an expert and protects against the sun’s rays in summer and reduces urban heat, binds carbon dioxide, stores moisture, attenuates noise, and supports biodiversity. The ecological benefit of the hornbeam hedges is equivalent to that of approximately 80 fully grown deciduous trees. The integration of nature into architecture as a contemporary response to climate change.