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Ben van Berkel's design selected for new hotel tower in Frankfurt

Ben van Berkel's UNStudio has been chosen as the winner in a design competition for Grand Hyatt tower, a hotel tower set to soar in Frankfurt.

According to Ben van Berkel the design for the Grand Hyatt tower celebrates and highlights the cosmopolitan character and diversity of Frankfurt: "It has three different elevations that are linked to the different aspects of the city. The tower takes up the variation and diversity offered by the city of Frankfurt and reflects that multiplicity of experiences back to the city itself. The tower can be perceived differently from each perspective; it appears needle-thin from one spot, strong and straight from another, and complex with a slight twist from yet another."
The new tower will house a 5-star-plus hotel with 405 rooms and suites, a ballroom, spa, various restaurants, a lobby bar and a public Sky Lounge on the top floor, and the possibility of an adjacent congress center. The hotel tower consists of 30 floors at a height of approximately 110 metres and an area of 54,562.70 m2 for the hotel tower + plinth.
The new hotel will be located opposite the currently emerging high-rise office Tower 185. At the entrance of the European quarter, at the Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage, Vivico has been building Tower 185 since September 2008; the first skyscraper at this location.
The competition jury chairman Prof. Eisele pointed out: "All the proposals were of an exceptionally high standard. The award-winning designs by UNStudio and Kohn, Pedersen Fox are particularly outstanding as they present a type of high-rise which does not yet exist in this form in Frankfurt. The contribution by UNStudio demonstrates how harmony can be created between extensive functional demands and the high requirements of exterior and interior design."