IMD _Institute of Media and Design

copyright _IMD

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN | CONVERSION OF THE GROSSMARKTHALLE COLOGNE
A new cultural and performance center in PARKSTADT SÜD

The Grossmarkthalle in Cologne, designed and completed in 1940 by civil engineer Ulrich Finsterwalder, is still used today as a fruit and vegetable market. Its innovative shell construction is still impressive today, with a column-free area of 7,500 square meters (plus a basement of the same size), a free span of 57 meters, and an apex height of 22 meters. The shell itself is only 8 centimeters thick. It is supported by reinforced concrete arches spaced 16.5 meters apart and braced by four ribs between each arch.

Together with Martin Elsässer, Finsterwalder also built the Grossmarkthalle in Frankfurt, today the headquarters of the ECB (European Central Bank), together with Gerhard Hermkes the impressive Grossmarkthalle in Hamburg, and together with Rudolf Rosenfeld and Herbert Zettel the Paketposthalle in Munich, whose planned conversion into a cultural venue could be an interesting reference project.

Cologne's wholesale market will soon be relocated. The listed hall will then be empty and waiting for a smart community-creating conversion and transformation.

For reasons of climate and resource sensitivity, the main components of the design are to be made entirely of wood.

Student: Elias Letter
Examiner: Prof. Matthias Karch
Co-examiner: Prof. Helga Blocksdorf
Coachings: Max Justus Hoven, Mohammad Bidhendi
Photography: Elias Letter, Max Justus Hoven, Matthias Karch

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