Opernturm

OpernTurm is a 43-storey 170m skyscraper in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. The property is situated opposite Alte Oper on the corner of Bockenheimer Landstraße and Bockenheimer Anlage. The building was designed by Christoph Mäckler. The project developer was Tishman Speyer, a US firm that previously built the Sony Center in Berlin and the Messeturm in Frankfurt.DesignThe Opernturm consists of a 42-storey, 170m tower, a 7-storey, 26m podium building facing towards Alte Oper. Access is through an 18m high lobby. The yellow-beige stone cladding of the facades was designed to fit in with the existing buildings surrounding Opernplatz. Designed to consume 23 percent less energy than stipulated by Germany's 2007 EnEV Energy Regulation, the Opernturm was one of the first office buildings in Europe to be certified to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standard.The site was occupied by one of Frankfurt's first high-rise buildings, the 68m Zürich-Haus built in 1962. In 1998 the owner of the building, Zürich Versicherung, commissioned Christoph Mäckler's firm to design a new building that would be 22m taller in order to maximize land use. When the initially proposed building was felt to be rather bulky, Zürich Versicherung suggested to the local government to build the new tower up to a height of 160m and to compensate for the added height by making available company-owned land to extend the adjacent Rothschildpark down to Bockenheimer Landstrasse. The local government eventually agreed but Zürich Versicherung did not go ahead with the development and sold empty site - the old tower was demolished in 2002 - to project developer Tishman Speyer in July 2004.