Olivetti Campus

The future Olivetti Campus in the south of Frankfurt am Main is part of a project to transform the former office district of Niederrad between the airport and the city centre into an urban neighbourhood, the Lyon Quarter. The central component of this urban blueprint is an ensemble of listed buildings once designed by Egon Eiermann for Olivetti’s headquarters in Germany. Completed in 1972, it consists of two towers and two elevated halls, which are being modernized by Max Dudler as part of the redevelopment process. To enhance the urban structure they will be joined by four new-builds with five highpoints, enabling an interplay between history and contemporary architecture to enrich the cluster. The individual buildings are arranged so as to create a versatile urban space where narrower alleys interweave with widening squares and to showcase the listed landmark from many different angles. The architecture frames a spacious piazza, defined by the width of the Eiermann plinths, to serve the quarter. Focusing on a few selected details, the new additions reference the Olivetti towers but retain their independence with a distinct materiality of their own.