Editing Commerzbank Tower

{{Short description|Skyscraper in Frankfurt, Germany}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox building
| name               = Commerzbank Tower
| image              = Frankfurt_Commerzbank_vom_Schaumainkai.jpg
| location           = Kaiserplatz 1<br> [[Frankfurt]]<br> [[Hesse]], Germany
| coordinates        = {{coord|50|06|38|N|8|40|27|E|region:DE-HE|display=inline,title}}
| mapframe-marker    = building
| antenna_spire      = {{convert|300.1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| roof               = {{convert|258.7|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| top_floor          = 
| floor_count        = 56
| start_date         = 1994
| opening            = 1997
| building_type      = Office
| floor_area         = {{convert|109200|m2|abbr=on}}
| cost               = [[Deutsche Mark|DM]]600 million 
| owner              = Samsung Insurance Corporation (sold for €620 million; sold-and-leased back until 2031 by Commerzbank)<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/banken-versicherungen/commerzbank-tower-bank-verkauft-konzernzentrale-an-suedkoreaner/14630766.html | title=Bank verkauft Konzernzentrale an Südkoreaner | newspaper=[[Handelsblatt]] |date=30 September 2016 |access-date=4 May 2017 | language=de}}</ref>
| developer          = [[Commerzbank]] 
| architect          = [[Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank|Norman Foster]]
| structural_engineer= [[Arup Group|Arup]] <br>Krebs und Kiefer
| main_contractor    = [[Hochtief|Hochtief AG]]
| public_transit     = {{ubl|{{ric|Frankfurt U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} {{ric|Frankfurt U-Bahn|U2|size=x12}} {{ric|Frankfurt U-Bahn|U3|size=x12}} {{ric|Frankfurt U-Bahn|U4|size=x12}} {{ric|Frankfurt U-Bahn|U5|size=x12}} {{ric|Frankfurt U-Bahn|U8|size=x12}} [[List of Frankfurt U-Bahn stations|Willy-Brandt-Platz]] | {{rint|Frankfurt|Tram|size=16}} 11 Willy-Brandt-Platz}}
| references         = <ref name=skyscrapercenter>{{ctbuh|780}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/109691 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306204510/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/109691 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=6 March 2016 |title=Emporis building ID 109691 |work=[[Emporis]]}}</ref><ref>{{skyscraperpage|76}}</ref><ref>{{structurae|20000122}}</ref>
}}

'''Commerzbank Tower''' is a 56-story, {{convert|259|m|abbr=on}} [[skyscraper]] in the [[Bankenviertel|banking district]] of [[Frankfurt]], Germany. An [[antenna tower|antenna]] spire with a signal light on top gives the tower a total height of {{convert|300.1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. It is [[List of tallest buildings in Germany|the tallest building in Germany]]. 

Commerzbank Tower was designed by [[Foster and Partners|Foster & Partners]], with [[Arup Group|Arup]] and Krebs & Kiefer ([[structural engineering]]), J. Roger Preston with P&A Petterson Ahrens ([[mechanical engineering]]), Schad & Hölzel ([[electrical engineering]]). Construction of the building began in 1994 and took three years to complete. The building provides {{convert|121000|m²|abbr=on}} of office space for the [[Commerzbank]] headquarters, including winter gardens and natural lighting and air circulation. The building is lighted at night with a yellow lighting scheme that was designed by Thomas Ende who won a competition.{{sfn|Alt|2014|p=63}}

In its immediate neighbourhood are other skyscrapers including the [[Eurotower (Frankfurt)|Eurotower]] (former home of the [[European Central Bank]]), the [[Main Tower]], the [[Silberturm]], the [[Japan Center (Frankfurt)|Japan Center]] and the [[Gallileo (skyscraper)|Gallileo]]. The area forms Frankfurt's [[central business district]], commonly known as [[Bankenviertel]].

== Features ==
[[File:Frankfurt.Commerbanktower.innenhof.wmt.jpg|thumb|left|267px|Garden on the 19th floor of Commerzbank Tower]]

When the building was planned in the early 1990s, Frankfurt's Green Party, who governed the city together with the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]], encouraged the Commerzbank to design a 'green' skyscraper. The result was the world's first so-called ecological skyscraper:{{sfn|Sweet|Forbes|Ahearn|Scott|2006|p=54}} besides the use of 'sky-gardens', environmentally friendly technologies were employed to reduce energy required for heating and cooling.{{sfn|Sweet|Forbes|Ahearn|Scott|2006|pp=54–55}}

===Sky gardens===
Commerzbank Tower is shaped as a {{convert|60|m|ft|0|adj=on}} wide rounded equilateral triangle with a central, triangular atrium. At nine different levels, the atrium opens up to one of the three sides, forming large sky gardens. These open areas allow more natural light in the building, reducing the need for artificial lighting.{{sfn|Sweet|Forbes|Ahearn|Scott|2006|pp=54–55}} At the same time it ensures offices in the building's two other sides have a view of either the city or the garden.

In order to eliminate the need of supporting columns in the sky gardens, the building was constructed in steel rather than the conventional (and cheaper) concrete. It was the first skyscraper in Germany where steel was used as the main construction material.

===Height===
It is a 56-story building, with the highest occupied floor at {{convert|190|m|abbr=on}}. The roof is at a height of {{convert|259|m|abbr=on}}. The [[antenna tower|antenna]] spire on top gives the tower a total height of {{convert|300.1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name=skyscrapercenter/>

Since the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the tower had briefly reclaimed its position as the tallest building in the European Union only to lose the title again in 2021 when Poland's [[Varso|Varso Tower]] topped out. The Commerzbank Tower is only two metres taller than the [[Messeturm]], which is also located in Frankfurt and was the tallest building in Europe before the construction of the Commerzbank Tower.

==In popular culture==

*Commerzbank Tower appears under the name ''Hurt Enterprise Headquarters'' as a [[Vanilla software|vanilla]] stage 8 Euro-Contemporary building set in ''[[SimCity 4]]'' (Deluxe or with Rush Hour).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://simcity4buildings.net/index.php?lang=eng&page=gewerbe&stage=8&id=429#429|title=Sim City 4 Building Index|website=simcity4buildings.net|access-date=2018-07-05}}</ref>
*In 2007, [[Wrebbit]] released a [[Puzz-3D|3D puzzle]] from the Towers Made To Scale Collection, which includes Commerzbank Tower and [[Messeturm]] in one box-set.
*In his 2011 book ''[[Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World|Boomerang]]'', [[Michael Lewis]] describes a meeting with a German financier who claimed the top of the Commerzbank Tower contains a glass room that serves as a men's toilet from which, he joked, one could, "in full view of the world below, [void one's bowels] on [[Deutsche Bank]]."{{sfn|Lewis|2011|p=150}}
==Gallery==
<gallery heights="200px" widths="200px">
File:Frankfurt-Skyline-2012.jpg|Commerzbank Tower at night, a focal point of the [[Frankfurt skyline]]
File:Frankfurt am Main nightshot.jpg|At night
File:Commerzbank Tower from Main Tower.jpg|Seen from the top of the Main Tower
File:Frankfurt Am Main-Commerzbank Tower-Ansicht vom Eisernen Steg.jpg|View from the Iron Bridge
File:Panorama 46.JPG|Street level view
File:Frankfurt Commerzbank Tower (Kaiserplatz).jpg|From Kaiserplatz
File:Frankfurt Commerzbank-Turm.20130904.jpg|Southern view
File:Commerzbank Vent.jpg|Close-up of the spire. Steam escapes from vents that are integrated into the spire cladding.
File:Commerzbank Tower Entrance.jpg|Entrance
</gallery>

==Skyscrapers in Frankfurt==
{{Skyscrapers in Frankfurt Map|float=left|highlight=1}}
{{clear}}

==See also==
* [[List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt]]
* [[List of tallest buildings in Germany]]
* [[List of skyscrapers]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Books ===
* {{cite book | first=Torsten | last=Alt | year=2014 | title=Nachwuchsförderung in der bildenden Kunst: Eine Studie unter Einbeziehung der Akteure und Profiteure | edition=revised | place=Marburg | publisher=Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag | language=de | isbn=978-3-8288-5767-4 | oclc=871614996}}
* {{cite book | first1=Fay | last1=Sweet | first2=Andrew | last2=Forbes | first3=Alison | last3=Ahearn | first4=Hamish | last4=Scott | year=2006 | title=100 Marvels of the Modern World | edition=illustrated | place=Basingstoke | publisher=[[AA Publishing]] | isbn=978-0-7495-4801-8 | oclc=225541344}}
* {{Cite book | title=Boomerang | first=Michael | last=Lewis | publisher=[[W.W. Norton & Company]] | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-393-08181-7 | location=U.S.A. | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/boomerangtravels00lewi/page/150}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Commerzbank Tower}}
* {{cite web | url=http://www.aviewoncities.com/frankfurt/commerzbanktower.htm | title=Commerzbank Tower | work=A View on Cities | access-date=22 February 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203160911/http://www.aviewoncities.com/frankfurt/commerzbanktower.htm | archive-date=3 February 2007 | url-status=dead }}

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[[Category:Foster and Partners buildings]]
[[Category:Office buildings completed in 1997]]
[[Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Frankfurt]]
[[Category:Bankenviertel]]
[[Category:1997 establishments in Germany]]
[[Category:Commerzbank]]