commerzbank wintergarden

Architecture 489Christian Noble

Structure Innovations68

Commerzbank:A Sustainable Skyscraper

Commerzbank: Frankfurt, Germany

Norman Foster’s Commerzbank in Frankfurt,Germany is a testament to large-scale, sus-tainable urban structures. Combined withstrict German laws for the work environmentand the growing desire for sustainable ur-ban architecture, Foster creates a piecethat not only meets those requirements, butdefines space not scene before in high-risedesign.

Winter gardens allow vast amounts of lightdeep within the building and provide pleas-ant views to those working deeper withinthe building. Operable facades createnatural ventilation throughout the entirestructure.

Commerzbank, the tallest building in Europe,demonstrates that sustainable, energyconcious design is possible at the scale ofthe skyscraper.

Commerbank (Foster) Commerbank Perspective Rendering

Norman Foster



Typical Floor Plan (Buchanan)

Site Plan (Buchanan)

Plan Development

To provide the spaces and building layoutnecessary to create some of the sustainablefeatures desired, an unorthodox plan wasessential.

Creating a central attrium space in a high-rise building is not a simple task. First of all,the typical building layout includes a cen-tralized core area for circulation, mechani-cal, and other basic building needs. Toachieve this, the core functions werepushed to the outer corners of the buildingto make way for the atrium space.



Winter Garden Section (Buchanan)

Building Section (Buchanan)

Section Development

Development of the section was essentialto the effort of building sustainability in termsof lighting and ventilation. Winter gardenshad to be rotated around the facade ofthe building. This created voids in the sec-tions and therefore long spans in each di-rection.

The central atrium of the building was amajor part of the sectional development.This space was free of structural memberswith the excetion of those used to framethe skylights which divide the building upinto sections vertically. It was essential forthere to be minimal intrusion into this spacebecause it provided light both vertically,from the glass roof at the atrium’s top, andhorizontally, from the winter garden fa-cades to the office across the atrium.



Structural Axonometric (Buchanan)Massing Axonometric Tendering

Structure Development

To support the large spans of the wintergardens, special attention was paid to thestructural system of the building. First of all,the triangular-shaped plan provided therigid structural support only provided by anequilateral triangle. At each corner of thistriangle, the cores are located. Here is pro-vided the vertical load support for the en-tire structure. Eight floor deep, Verendeeltrusses provide the structure to span thegardens between the core vertical loadmembers. All of these strucutral elementswrapped around a central void allow thebuilding’s structure to carry loads like a tube,a very efficient method for forming a struc-ture.



Natural, Central Lighting

Lighting the interior of the building was avery important design factor. Since the of-fices in the building wrapped along boththe exterior and interior facades, those onthe interior needed to be provided with anample exterior light source as per Germanlaw. This is provided all day long becausethe winter gardens are rotated around thebuilding to capture light at all times of theday.

June PM Shadow DiagramJune AM Shadow Diagram



December AM Shadow Diagram December PM Shadow Diagram

Natural, Central Lighting

The diagrams on this and the previous pageilllustrate the penetraion of light into the cen-tral space of the building’s atrium in themorning and afternoon during both sum-mer and winter. When the sun is low in thesky, light penetrates the facades of the win-ter gardens. When the sun is higher, theglass ceiling at the top of the atrium allowslight in which reflects back and forththroughout the entire core of the building.



Winter Garden - Interior (Evans)

Winter Garden - Exterior (Evans) Winter Gardens (Evans)

Typical View from Deck (Buchanan)

Winter Gardens

The winter gardens in this building providea great number of fuctions.

One, the gardens provide a buffer zone ofinulation between the central atrium spaceand the outdoors.

Two, the stacked gardens allow for ventila-tion through the atrium which is divided intosections as the building goes upward.

Three, mass quantities of natural light arebrought directly to the center of the build-ing from its base to the top.

Four, offices facing the center of the build-ing are provided light and exterior viewsthrough the gardens.

And finally, the garden spaces provide amuch more green, natural space for thoseworking in the building which is somethinglacking in the typical urban work environ-ment.



Winter Gardens

Massing Axonometric



Exploded Axonometric



Facade Light and Ventilation Diagram (Evans)

Original Facade Design (Evans)

Facade

The design of the layered, operable facadeon this project is central to the issue ofsustainablity. These facades allow for ven-tilation on the scale of the office just as thewinter gardens provide ventilation for theentire building.

Strict German laws exist regulating em-ployee comfort in the work environment.Aside from a well ventilated workspace,lighting is of great concern. Virtually all of-fices must have a window to provide lightand a view outside. These facades pro-vide that light in quantities sufficient tomake the workplace pleasant.

The drawing at the bottom is of the originalfacade design. Note that both intake offresh air and exhaust of old air take place inthe same area within the facade. The builtdesign provides for the separation of thesetwo making for much more efficient venti-lation.



Bibliography

Buchanan, Peter. “Reinventing the Sky-Scraper.” A and U. no 329, February1998. 30-67.

“Commerzbank-Zentrale in Frankfurt amMain.” Baumeister. May 1997. 18-27.

Evans, Barrie. “Banking on Ventilation.”AJ Building Study. Februdary 1997.

Foster, Norman and Partners.“Commerzbank.”http://www.fosterandpartners.com

commerzbank wintergarden

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