Frankfurt am Main
19 rental apartments, office buildings 
nursery direct commission, 2008 - 2022
Ali Selmi Grundstücksgesellschaft b.R.

Floor area 10,368 m²

For years, the north-eastern part of the block between the banks of the Main, Windmühlstraße and Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße was characterised by a disparate urban landscape. It was therefore only logical to use the construction of urgently needed residential and office buildings as an opportunity to redevelop the site. The complex, comprising three- to six-storey residential and office buildings with an integrated nursery, extends into the depth of the block and, in its design, makes a clear reference to the formal language, materiality and façade structure of the listed Villa Bonn. The classical building, which remains the sole surviving testament to the neighbourhood’s upper-class past within its context, serves as the architectural determinant of the new development. Rather than encroaching upon the historic building, the new buildings, with their finely staggered ridge heights, function, in a sense, as a frame. Thanks to the string courses, the floor-to-ceiling wooden windows with wraparound sills, and their self-supporting facades of light-coloured limestone adorned with delicate reliefs, their stately facades evoke the elegance of Parisian townhouses. And a very real piece of Frankfurt’s architectural history is also being brought into the present: the two-storey decorative façade of Villa Helfmann has been incorporated as a spolia in the plinth area of the residential building on Wilhelm-Leuschner

Project team:  Kathrin Binder, Jens Jakob Happ, Claudia Oehlschläger, Lazar Tucakovic, Matthias Scholz, Jutta Berger