The first façade elements supplied by Hydro will be positioned on Cologne's Rheinpark exhibition complex in December. The extensive deliveries of the WICTEC EL system are being made by Wicona, a Hydro Building Systems company and brand name.
The Rheinpark, along with the Rheinhallen halls and Messeturm exhibition tower, are much-loved city landmarks. Measuring some 200 by 300 metres, they represented for a long time the most modern exhibition facilities in Germany.
Today the buildings in the inner area have been demolished and will be replaced by a completely new office building divided into 14 inner courtyards covering an area of 160,000 square meters. It has been decided to retain the outer expressionistic façade that dates from 1924.
Since October 2005, Hydro Building Systems based in Ulm have been collaborating with architects and designers to realize the best technical solution. The element façade construction WICTEC EL was selected. The aluminium façade will be engineered by the experienced metal construction firm Rupert App of Leutkirch.
To get a better idea of the size of the construction site, we are talking about approximately 4,300 element components each with a weight of around 100 kg.
The entire volume of the aluminium façades will be located in the inner courtyards, which alone will have an aluminium weight of 400-450 metric tons.
The television broadcaster RTL has already been secured as a tenant and will set up its German base here, transmitting from these historic halls from 2008 onwards. RTL will utilize approximately 80,000 of the complex’s total 160,000 square meters.