Search results
The Messeturm is similar in design to towers by other architects including the Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia and Key Tower (1991) in Cleveland, Ohio. Frankfurters often call it Bleistift ("pencil") due to its shape.
The Messeturm is similar in design to towers by other architects including the Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia and Key Tower (1991) in Cleveland, Ohio. Frankfurters often call it Bleistift ("pencil") due to its shape.
- We Do Not Construct Decoration, We Decorate Construction
- Style
- Iconic Buildings
- Postmodernism Or Pomo?
- Jahn and Postmodernism
- The Short-Lived Revolt That Still Reverberates
Helmut Jahn was born and raised in Germany, near Nuremberg, and during his youth, he had a chance to witness the rebuilding of this city after the disaster of war. He studied for his undergraduate degree in architecture in Munich and moved to Chicago in 1966. What drew him there was the chance to study under the wing of one of the titans, Ludwig Mi...
Jahn knew what he wanted and it wasn’t the clean sparse lines of the International Style. He wanted power, bold forms, and big buildings that do not pretend to be light. Maybe a bit surprisingly, he actively tried to create more human spaces within his giant government and corporate creations. He did not strive for simplicity of form, but rather fo...
James R Thompson Center/State of Illinois Center, Chicago, IL, USA
Interestingly, this building completely denies what I wrote about Jahn’s care about the energy efficiency of buildings. As the building’s exterior is mostly glass and the facade is at an angle it lets in a lot of sunlight. Hence a very complex and expensive to operate air-conditioning system had to be installed to keep the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This issue originates in Jahns stubbornness about the materials; originally, the panels were supposed to be made of curv...
United Airlines Terminal, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL, USA
When Jahn was designing Terminal 1 for United Airlines, budget airlines did not exist. Flying and going to the airport was a serious and exclusive business. What Jahn was looking to do was to transform this experience into something for the future (how could he foresee the misery of budget flights?), and the terminal is often dubbed “The Terminal for Tomorrow.” The most famous part of the building is the tunnel between concourse B and C. Here Jahn cooperated with Canadian artist Michael Hayde...
One Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA, USA
One journalist described the building, completed in 1987, as “the bodybuilder cousin of New York’s elegant Chrysler Building.” Not without merit, if you compare the two. One Liberty Place is only one of four buildings in the Liberty Place complex, we also have an unimaginative (in name at least) Two Liberty Place, a shopping mall, called Shops at Liberty Place, and a hotel that thankfully changes its name every time it changes the chain it belongs to. Still, it was One Liberty Place that caus...
Postmodernism is an architectural style I always struggled with. Being a bit younger than its origins, I experienced its creations, for better or worse, throughout my life. Mostly for worse, let’s be honest. It is a style that has become an excuse for really bad architecture that was trying to be daring, witty, or ironic, and failed. Now, this is m...
Jahn’s architecture carries all the traits of Postmodernism. He is not afraid of color. Jahn has no qualms about using a variety of forms to express the message he has in mind. On the other hand, his high-tech stylizations often do carry a remote echo of his early association with Mies van der Rohe. Jahn may be all for “decorating construction” but...
As an architectural style, Postmodernism is usually associated with the 1970s and 1980s. This was when it was defined and consistently applied as a style. If we boil it down to sole colors, free use of any traditions, and not being overly serious about things, then the style was over very quickly. On top of that, it was possibly one of the last cle...
MesseTurm is a skyscraper and Frankfurt’s 2nd tallest high-rise building. It lies at Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage street and is bordering the exhibition grounds . MesseTurm was designed by Helmut Jahn for the American project developer Tishman Speyer .
Dec 17, 2010 · CTBUH collects data on two major types of tall structures: 'Buildings' and 'Telecommunications / Observation Towers.' A 'Building' is a structure where at least 50% of the height is occupied by usable floor area.
Tishman Speyer has delivered a number of its most iconic and beloved skyscrapers. In doing so we’ve helped to shape both Frankfurt’s skyline and the fabric of urban life. It started in 1988 when we began development of MesseTurm, a 61,700 square meter office tower and our first project in Europe.
Completed in 1990 and designed by architect Helmut Jahn, the Messeturm has been a symbol of Frankfurt ever since. At a height of 257 m, the art deco-style office tower with its 63 storeys was the tallest in the EU for a long time.
