Seven Steps into the Future
A quarter of a century ago, southwest of the Frankfurt Trade Fair Center: Freight trains and trucks shunted through endless logistics areas, making noise and squeaking noise. Today, this is exactly where people relax above the city's rooftops, electric vehicles whir, and intelligent technology orchestrates light and warmth.
Those who want to experience how metropolises are reinventing themselves will find what they're looking for in Frankfurt's Europaviertel. On the former site of the freight depot, the new district combines living, working, and shopping. The current culmination of this development measures 66 meters to its top: The SOLID Home residential high-rise offers amenities such as smart home technology and west-facing terraces in its 200 apartments. It is fully designed to meet the requirements of sustainable mobility and vertical density. The elegant interior design includes TECEdrain profiles made of brushed stainless steel, which have been installed in 120 bathrooms.
Imagining the City of the Future
"Mainhattan" – Frankfurt has had this nickname for decades. But while (almost) all life on the Hudson River takes place in skyscrapers, for a long time only bank headquarters rose into the sky on the Main River. This is changing rapidly: Frankfurt urgently needs new concepts for housing, for holistic living and mobility environments. The economic metropolis attracts people from all over the world – the airport as a hub makes the city an attractive home base, especially for cosmopolitan and hypermobile people. In addition to adapting the infrastructure, living space must be created. The solution is vertical densification, i.e. living at lofty heights – a concept that finds its provisional perfection in the SOLID Home.
In step with the times
"The future of urban development is residential high-rises – they offer a lot of space in a central location on a small footprint, thus solving other future challenges such as energy efficiency and connections to public transport," emphasizes Matthias Koch, head of the Frankfurt office at KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten. "However, they must be sensitively integrated into the urban context. SOLID Home develops vertically from its neighborhood within a closed perimeter block development and, through staggered floors, creates a bridge between low-rise buildings and high-rise buildings."
An elegant ensemble
Despite its 21 floors, SOLID Home blends harmoniously into its lower-rise surroundings – thanks to its two base buildings, each with seven floors. The cascading shape lends the high-rise a sense of lightness. The buildings are grouped around a green courtyard, accessible to all residents, and complete the ensemble. From elegant apartments to apartments for couples and families to spacious penthouses with breathtaking views of the skyline and the Taunus Mountains, the complex offers floor plans for every lifestyle. And the spacious lobby area offers generous opportunities for socializing.
Focus on urban mobility
Anyone planning a centrally located living and working space for many people must inevitably consider their mobility. This will change fundamentally in the coming years, particularly in urban areas – private cars with combustion engines will play a subordinate role, and instead, various forms of micromobility with electric vehicles will increase. Sustainable concepts anticipate this shift and develop it into a locational advantage. SOLID Home offers conclusive answers to questions regarding moving and stationary traffic, conventionally powered cars, and electric vehicles: The building has an underground garage with a total of 142 parking spaces, 37 of which are equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles. For sustainable mobility, residents in the underground garage have access to five car-sharing vehicles – a key management system makes this possible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In keeping with the spirit of clean micromobility, 239 parking spaces and charging stations for e-bikes are also available there. The Europaviertel is well connected to long-distance transport and the airport. Inner-city destinations such as the trade fair center, the main train station, and the old town can be reached quickly by public transport or bicycle.
Stylish and smart – the pillars of the future concept
SOLID Home sets standards for future-oriented living comfort and first-class convenience: The stylish material world of real wood parquet, chrome fittings, and porcelain stoneware successfully combines with intelligent smart home technology. The high-quality furnishings create a sophisticated ambiance, and the intelligent control system ensures the appropriate level of comfort, orchestrating not only lighting, blinds, and heating, but also door communication and other devices according to individual needs.
TECE: Technical and aesthetic refinement
What applies to the building structure is continued in the room concepts and bathrooms. Here, a design language that is as spacious as it is straightforward is a defining feature that will still appeal decades from now. Stylish accents come from TECE: In 120 apartments, TECEdrainprofiles made of brushed stainless steel were used for the water drainage of the floor-level showers – drainage reduced to the essentials.
The elegant shower profiles impress with their attractive design, efficient functionality, and the ability to be cut to the exact dimensions of the shower area on both sides and installed flush with the niche. The flush design of the TECEdrainprofiles particularly enhances the uniform aesthetics of large-format tiles. The stainless steel rail is only 55 millimeters wide and, when installed flush with the wall, does not impair the high-quality appearance. The aesthetics of the TECEdrainprofiles emphasize the clear spatial structure and ensure maximum functionality. The exterior of the shower profile can be easily cleaned with a cloth, without the need to remove the grate like shower channels. The internal gradient optimizes water drainage and the self-cleaning effect, thus further reducing cleaning effort.
Great in the details, too
With this perfection in detail, the SOLID Home achieves what few other properties can: be just as impressive up close as it is from a distance.
Photos of the SOLID Home: © Markus Bredt for KSP Engel
Images of the TECEdrainprofiles: TECE