Park Tower

Gaps, bridges, and striking outer values

Location

Frankfurt/Main
Project

Office high-rise
Procedure

Study
Client

DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, represented by DWS Real Estate GmbH
Object planning

caspar.
Architect of record

Caspar Schmitz-Morkramer
General planning

caspar.gp, Cologne
Technical building equipment

GREAID, Karben mit K. Dörflinger Gesellschaft für Elektroplanung, Allendorf
Quality assurance technical building equipment

Dipl. Ing. Wolfgang Peché, Bergisch Gladbach
Structural engineering

Werner Sobek, Frankfurt
Soil survey

CDM Smith, Bickenbach
Fire protection

Rieser Wessel, Frankfurt
Facade planning

AplusF Fassadenplanung, Frankfurt
Building physics

Werner Sobek Green Technologies, Stuttgart
Survey

Wittig + Kirchner, Bad Homburg bis 2025: Brockmann & Kaiser, Frankfurt
Accessibility

c.f. Architekten, Frankfurt
BREEAM-Certification

Arcadis, München
Light planning

a·g Licht, Köln
Landscape architecture

HKK Landschaftsarchitektur, Frankfurt
Existing building

1972 Construction (Abeck, Ernst, Fischer, Rathai, Wiesbaden)
2005 Expansion Albert Speer + Partner, Frankfurt)
Planning and construction period

2024–2028
Service phases

1–4
Gross floor area

26.031 m²
Certifications

BREEAM „Excellent“ (intended)
Visualizations

caspar./bloomimages

The Park Tower at Rothschildpark in Frankfurt tells a story of constant transformation. Since its construction in 1972 as the headquarters of the Südwestdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank, it has been a fixed part of the Frankfurt skyline. For a short time, the 96-meter-high building (“SGZ-Hochhaus”) was the tallest highrise in the city. Originally a black steel-and-glass monolith, the building gained its present double structure in 2005, when a brace-like extension created two interlocking volumes. For the DWS Group, caspar. will once again transform the Park Tower – this time to significantly extend its lifecycle with forward-looking, environmentally sustainable measures. The new façade seamlessly unites the building volumes, while the striking gaps – the opera gap and the park gap – create a visual and spatial bridge between the Alte Oper and the adjacent park.

Opera Gap and Park Gap

The opera gap can be described as a dramatic vertical ‘crack’ in the volume, opening the new tower at its corner toward Opernplatz – and greened throughout. The somewhat narrower “park gap” mirrors it on the park-facing side of the building. Yet it is just as true that the two gaps – despite or precisely because of their striking presence – create a spatial and visual bridge between the Alte Oper and the neighboring park. They are a gap, and they bridge a gap.

With this connecting gesture, the two gaps express the central idea of our revitalization: to fuse the two parts of the existing building into a harmonious whole. The new facade, which seamlessly links the volumes, is decisive in this respect. The gaps create loggias in the new high-tech building envelope, on both sides, alternating from floor to floor. Again: separate, yet interlocking. In the end, every level features a loggia. By greening these loggias as intensely as possible, the greenery of the surrounding parks is not only echoed, but extended upward.

Facade, solar energy, and striking sustainability values

Alongside the gaps, the most striking change to the existing building is the new facade. A compact double-skin envelope with continuous metal pilaster strips and integrated photovoltaic modules significantly improves the climate balance of the entire structure. Depending on external conditions, the annual yield of the PV array may reach up to 200,000 kWh. This corresponds to the annual consumption of around 50 four-person households – and it covers a large share of the energy demand for central cooling, elevator operation, and lighting of the Park Tower. Improved insulation further reduces energy use. The result: a once aging highrise becomes a best-in-class office building that easily exceeds today’s regulatory standards. (We are aiming for a BREEAM certification in use with the goal of “Excellent”; all energy measures are aligned with the requirements of GEG 2024 and comply with the EU taxonomy.)

Our repositioning of the Park Tower reduces the primary energy demand dramatically – by up to two thirds. While the status quo requires around 243 kWh per square meter per year, our forecast is approximately 79 kWh. We achieve almost the same degree of reduction in operational CO2 emissions: currently around 48 kg/m²a; in future operation they are expected to fall to about 17 kg/m²a. And these figures do not even include the yield of the PV modules in the facade. With it, projections show a reduction of up to 64 kWh/m²a and 14 kg CO₂e/m²a.

New floor plan, New Work

The revitalization also allows us to optimize the building’s floor plan. This is achieved primarily by reorganizing the second escape route. It enables flexible, open office use with maximum efficiency and maximum daylight. The open floor plate of 650 m² offers a rare spatial solution in Frankfurt – normally, floor plates in highrises are limited to around 400 m². The Park Tower – 31 stories and two mezzanines above ground, plus two basement levels, with a total gross floor area of approx. 26,000 m² – offers around 17,000 m² of flexible office and conference space across 25 floors, from individual offices to open-space concepts.

Wecreate even more free space by integrating decentralized technical systems in a space-saving way within the circulation cores. Where ventilation units stand today, future users will enjoy a sky bar on the 28th floor and the new rooftop garden on the 29th floor, with a glass-covered walkway and an exclusive view of the Frankfurt skyline. With this connection to the sky, the tower receives a dignified, open crown. We add another five meters to the height – after being 95 meters in 1968 and just under 111 meters in 2005, the tower will now reach 116 meters. The loggias in the green gaps, acting as balconies on every office floor and glazed nearly floor to ceiling, likewise offer special views over the city. New working worlds require new mobility solutions, too. Here, the Park Tower includes, among other amenities, a state-of-the-art bicycle room in the basement with its own elevator.

The Park Tower therefore meets the requirements of what we now call New Work in very particular – and very diverse ways. It is no coincidence that the globally renowned consulting firm KPMG has already been confirmed as the future exclusive tenant.

The Park Tower is one of the office’s most important – and most intriguing – projects, because it brings together, and must bring together, so many essential factors in an almost paradigmatic way: a prominent building, a prominent location, the handling of the existing structure and its urban context, multiple transformation strategies, the consideration of new working worlds, energy and sustainability management, and the balancing of social, aesthetic, ecological, and economic aspects.

caspar.team

Architect of record

Caspar Schmitz-Morkramer

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Chief Architectural Officer

Sonja Gallo

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Study
Marco Ossmann
Holm Bethge
Juan Salgado
Thoufiq Ahmed

Project management General planning

Frank Schreer

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Project management Architecture
Fabio Di Franco
Azadeh Najib
Anita Seidner

Project team Architecture
Adriane Krabbenborg
Alexander Lisboa
Aline Ackermann
Andrea Meyer-Hübner
Bárbara Climent Silvar
Carina Seckler
Daniel Opitz
Israel Moreno Torres
Jinju Dücker
Juan Salgado
Kristina Rhiemeier
Marlène Assié
Oliver Greven
Sarah Bauer
Stefanie Deppe
Thomas Maximini