Architecture is much more than just a facade.

But a building unfolds its effect through the design of the outer skin and comes into contact with its surroundings.

The facade likes or displeases, it arouses associations.

If a building has a particularly memorable shape, it is given a nickname: the pencil, the ribbed.

Sometimes a client tries to influence this effect with the name.

In the Gutleutviertel, the Quest company is developing a new office building at the intersection of Baseler and Gutleutstrasse, which has been given the name "das Kreisler" - perhaps because it borders on the large roundabout on Baseler Platz or because of the rounded corner and curved facade , which was developed by the architects Faller und Krück.

Rainer Schulze

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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    Anyone who has been following urban development for a long time feels reminded of a design that was supposed to be implemented ten years ago. At that time, the building block on the western edge of Goetheplatz was supposed to be torn down and redesigned. The client asked several architects for suggestions, including the office of Zaha Hadid, who designed an elegant commercial building with long ribbon windows and white, cantilevered ceilings that flow around the street corner and come together like wing tips. But that was too dominant for critics for this situation. The client decided to make a different contribution, but there were many who at least wept a tear after Hadid. Friends of this design language can now look forward to a variation on this theme.Because Faller and Krück are planning something similar - not one-to-one, of course, but the relationship to Hadid is obvious. The five storeys higher "Kreisler" also impresses with its flowing forms, long ribbon windows and rounded, white ceilings.

    Demolition is in full swing

    But first the existing buildings still have to be cleared.

    They date from the years 1957 and 1994 and were hardly noticeable in their tired averageity.

    The demolition is in full swing.

    The buildings have been gutted, now the demolition follows.

    For this and for the new building, Baseler Strasse must be narrowed to one lane by the end of 2023.

    The building application for the new office and commercial building has been submitted: It will have two catering areas and four shops on the ground floor, and office space will be created from the first floor on.

    According to the client, civil engineering should begin in summer and building construction in autumn.

    The 45 meter high new building should be ready in early 2024. The building will have twelve storeys and will have around 25,000 square meters of gross floor area, the roof terraces will be greened. There is no tenant yet, but the building should be shortlisted by Nestlé, which is looking for a new office. But at Nestlé it is said that the search has not yet been decided.