Centraal MesseCity

The Messebalkon located at Deutz station is an important place for arrival and networking, connecting Koelnmesse, the adjacent new buildings of MesseCity Köln, and public transportation. As the keystone of the new MesseCity district, the Centraal high-rise, designed by Max Dudler, assumes a significant anchor function. As a central element of MesseCity Cologne, the building stands out prominently among the surrounding facades, emphasized by its bright limestone cladding. The sixteen-story office building, with a trapezoidal floor plan, develops a sculptural figure through projections and recesses on the third and seventh floors. The southern entrance, in close proximity to the exhibition balcony, is accentuated by a three-story incision and a corresponding cantilever spanning two facade axes. An outdoor terrace framed by a single-story colonnade on the east facade helps to aesthetically resolve the complex building geometry. The facade is characterized by protruding vertical pilasters and correspondingly recessed horizontal elements. Through three subtle setbacks, the building tapers upwards, adhering to the classical canon of base, middle section, and final capital. The facade pilasters, up to 1.45 meters wide in the lower section, narrow by 10 cm in width and 5 cm in depth at each of three story sections. This tapering accentuates the verticality of the facade.The building was designed and constructed to meet the DGNB Gold certification standards.