Light ceiling for forecourt and foyer of FBC office tower

Project/Location: FBC Mainzer Landstrasse, Frankfurt, Germany

Project.
The suggestion by architects, Just.Burgeff, to design the forecourt and foyer of the FBC office tower with a continuous light ceiling was accepted by the German Association for Real- Estate Funds (DEGI), the project being completed following two years of planning and construction. The office block itself was designed by the architect Richard Heil from Frankfurt am Main in 1980.

Concept/Design.
Just.Burgeff conceived the horizontal light canopy as a point of recognition for FBC. It covers the entrance with the glass-fronted Café-Pavillon and continues into the foyer as a light ceiling. The glazed Café-Pavillon opposite the foyer gives the area spatial expression and divides it into two sections: at the front the forecourt onto the Mainzer Land- strasse and behind a quiet, open space in the distance.

Construction.
This enables a display of light depending on the situation. By day, the varying intensity of light and position of the sun cast a shadow onto the underside of the porch canopy. When it is dark outside, the roof is illuminated from inside, lighting up the forecourt. Within the foyer, the architects have limited themselves to a few high-quality materials such as glass, brush-finished steel and the translucent membrane of the light ceiling.

Fabric:
SEFAR® Architecture IL-80-OP (previous description AL 02-70)/Nowoflon ETFE
Light Frame Modul: 1500 × 2700 mm

FBC

Architect: Just.Burgeff, Architects, Frankfurt, Germany, www.just.burgeff.de

Engineering: ArtEngineering GmbH, Dr. Ing. S. Greiner, Stuttgart, Germany, www.greiner-engineering.com

Assembly/Implementation: Schmid GmbH, Simmerberg, Germany, www.schmidgmbh.de

Sales/Distribution: Schmid GmbH, Simmerberg, Germany, www.schmidgmbh.de