The Okrifteler ferry glides silently across the Main as if driven by magic, a ferryman is not on board.

An intelligent parking guidance system guides each vehicle individually to a free parking space, and the brightness of the street lamps is based on the actual lighting conditions.

Directly at the Hattersheim train station, on the site of the former company of the greeting card manufacturer Albert Horn & Sons, a “holistic” office building is to be built.

The visualization shows a wooden structure with a large greenhouse on the roof in which vegetables are grown.

The tubular devices on the roof generate energy.

Heike Lattka

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Taunus-Kreis.

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In Hattersheim, this vision of the future should become reality within the next three years.

The city sees itself as a prototype for a smart city and wants to be a pioneer in digital development, as Mayor Klaus Schindling (CDU) explains.

The start was already made in the summer with the founding of the “Taunus Innovation Campus e.

V. "made.

Renowned innovative companies such as IFC Group GmbH, NTT Global Data Centers EMEA, GMS Global Media Services GmbH, NUR GmbH, Krieger & Schramm GmbH & Co KG, but also the Fresenius Institute and Barmer Krankenkasse or the Start association have joined this association UP e.

V. merged.

The common goal is to promote digitization, artificial intelligence and the development of a smart city.

Experiment field for new technologies

So-called “test beds” are planned, reported Schindling. On a scientific basis, the whole of Hattersheim will become an experimental field for the new technologies, all of which are under the important aspect of sustainability, explained the mayor. So Hattersheim is a training ground for the city of the day after tomorrow. The Innovation Taunus Campus is supported by a network of partners from industry, start-ups, education, the public sector and research. The aim is to create an “ecosystem for founders” that will provide impetus for sustainable innovations.

With GMS Global and Thing Technologies, two companies will soon be relocating their headquarters to Hattersheim, which have already demonstrated their outstanding expertise in converting to the digital world. Thing Technologies made a name for itself internationally with the Cube building in Berlin. 3750 sensors in the cube ensure highly intelligent technology. Access controls, room bookings for conference halls, temperature control and the adjustment of lighting conditions are controlled via an app. GMS is currently building the “most intelligent office building in Europe” for its own 200 employees.

The company, founded in 2004 with offices in Berlin and Singapore, will present in a showroom the advantages of a “thinking” building for modern working environments. The cross-manufacturer full-service provider Thing for audiovisual media technology, video conferences and smart buildings is the obvious partner if the city wants to build another office building with “thinking” offices at the train station. According to Schindling, the company should be an important source of inspiration for another autonomous office building that is also to be converted at the train station according to sustainable criteria. The initiators of the planned project are Frankfurter Invest GmbH, based in Frankfurt, with their project development company Schulstrasse mbH & Co. KG, who have already presented the first plans for the four-story smart building.The entrepreneurs also want to build condominiums on the embankment. More than 100 people are said to live there. According to Schindling, it would be the last residential construction project in Hattersheim.

Barrier-free station soon

What has so far only been presented as animated visualizations on the computer for better clarity, should lead to a concrete plan next year, which can then be submitted to the city council for a vote.

In the best case scenario, construction could start in 2022, says the mayor.

Things could soon be smarter and without muscle power in the train station.

In the meantime, it looks as if in the foreseeable future there will be no need for those municipal employees who help mothers with prams or wheelchair users to cope with the station stairs.

The tough negotiations with Deutsche Bahn AG had finally paid off, Schindling reported.

The elevators would be built in 2025/26, the city is building an additional ramp at its own expense.

This means that the barrier-free train station will also become a reality in the foreseeable future.