Christoph Mäckler

About new, not modern architecture in FRM

An FRM conversation with the architect about the end of Modernism and new cityscapes.

Mr. Mäckler, thirty years ago you opened your company's offices in Frankfurt. How has the cityscape altered since then?
Very much to the positive. There are places you enjoy frequenting. They are places that have been taken on and in many areas elevated to a high quality.

Can you name one of these places, one you really like?
Alte Brücke (the old bridge). This is where Frankfurt originated as a town. It was the main traffic route. All the European movements of goods passed over this bridge. Alte Brücke brought industry and politics to Frankfurt, established the town as a trading center, trade fair city and free imperial city. It had the same function back then as the airport has today. We are getting it back in shape. We have to care for places such as these, because the city also relies on its history and tradition. For decades these things were neglected, but meanwhile society expects them.

The most important change in the last 30 years was the evolution of the city skyline. How do you see this development?
I think it is wonderful. It is the city's new image. When you stand on the Alte Brücke, you see the old towers in front of the new ones. Previously, the structures that shaped the city center were the church Alte Nikolaikirche, the cathedral or Dom, and the Paulskirche and Leonhardskirche churches. In the 19th century it was the city hall towers, the so-called "Lange Franz" and the "Kleine Cohn", which sadly were not rebuilt after the war. And today it is the large administrative buildings used by banks and insurance companies. The towers are a wonderful reflection of how society has developed. It is a unique situation that you do not find anywhere else, not in Milan, or in Paris or in London. You really only find it in Frankfurt.

You have just made your own contribution to the skyline with the recently completed OpernTurm. What was your guiding aesthetic design principle?
Well there are two towers now, and the third one, Tower 185, is being built. The first tower was the old Selmi high-rise, which we lent a new appearance in the guise of a glass and aluminum façade. The second tower is the OpernTurm, which is stone-clad. I believe that the positive feedback we have received for the OpernTurm and the comparatively minor positive feedback experienced for the old Selmi high-rise shows very clearly that we must start to think differently in architecture. We have come to the end of Modernism. Something new had to come. There is something very self-evident about the OpernTurm. It is interesting that it should be so well-received, though it doesn't correspond in the slightest with the architecture sold globally today. After all, it is not look-at-me architecture, it does not boast a dented, rumpled or creased façade system. I am sure architecture will change. And not because we architects want it to, not because it is what Mäckler wants, but because society wants it. Society tends to rebel against too many works of art. It simply wants more buildings.

What role does height play for high-rises?
Height plays no role whatsoever, height is simply a question of cost effectiveness. Only the location plays a role. In other words, high-rises should not be located in residential areas, but they above all should be accessibile by public transportation. This is why a high-rise such as the one that is to be built south of the main railway station would have been ideal. Central location, perfect transport link and hardly any housing in the area. This building could have been as high as it wanted.

There is a lot of building construction going on in Frankfurt, new quarters are developing and thought is also being given to how the historic inner-city should be built up again. What is your opinion on how this should be realized?
The most important thing is that it must be a normal downtown area. There should not be anything artificial about it. It must be networked with its surroundings, with Braubachstrasse, the Main, the cathedral, the Römer. The history of the place should be evident, so as to clearly show how urban spaces and public spaces looked before the war – the path from the cathedral to the Römer, in other words along the Krönungsweg or Coronation Way. And then the idea is to build houses which correspond to the design regulations passed by the City of Frankfurt. There should not be anything spectacular or extravagant, but rather very natural architecture, whose impact derives from its material quality, its proportions, its colors and details. We should not attempt to install a collection of artworks there again.

What role do cities such as Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach and Eschborn play in the urban metropolitan region FrankfurtRhineMain?
An important one. They are small personalities, which you might say exist as in a federation within the Federal Republic of Germany. The interesting thing is that they all have their own special features, their characteristics and as such contribute to the region's diversity.

And the more peripheral and rural regions such as the Taunus, Rheingau, Odenwald...
... are very important regions, although we should be careful not to overdevelop them. Unfortunately, that is happening on the periphery of Frankfurt. For example, when you drive up to the Feldberg you will see a mirrored glass office building on the right hand side. It does not fit in there. It just should not be there. It belongs in the city and not on a field in the countryside. We need to protect ourselves against such blights on the landscape so as to preserve the characteristic properties of the various towns and communities.

How would you say the FrankfurtRhineMain region is positioned internationally as a polycentric region?
Frankfurt's real strength is its economy and a size that does not correspond with its status. We live in a city that really does not take that many minutes to cross; it is a manageable size. Try to do that in London, and you would walk for hours. It is different here. The Frankfurt conurbation centers on a relatively small city and in addition to that you have cities and places outside Frankfurt that have their own industry and cultural center. That encourages competition and means that we have a high quality in a wide variety of areas.

So do you believe that FrankfurtRhineMain can compete with cities like London and Paris?
Yes, of course. Take a bank workspace in London and one in Frankfurt. In London you pay much more to rent an office building than what you would pay here. We can offer workspaces that are inexpensive and can be reached quickly. With the airport and the main railway station, we are well networked and thus much more flexible than would be the case say in London.

Final question: You started 30 years ago. What will Frankfurt look like in 30 years?
Given the advantages I mentioned, there will surely be a further concentration of business enterprises and consequently more high-rises; but only provided that this economic development continues. I am also certain that until such time, the quality of many public spaces will have altered because this is what society demands. The thing is not always to design something new, but rather to take as your starting point the city's history. After the war, we only looked to the future and stopped looking back to the past. Today's generation is looking for its roots and because this is so I am sure that we will design the city in the spirit of its history. Take the area in front of the train station. It is a disaster as a public space, a space where people come together. We design the living space where families come together as a matter of fact. But you do get such omissions in the city. It should not be allowed. After all, the beauty of the place is a quality, which is also quality of life and workspace quality.

Martin Orth conducted the interview