engineering

Taunusturm

Taunusturm is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Taunusturm rather than just read about it. In short: TaunusTurm (originally Kaiserkarree) is the project name for a complex of two buildings, a 170 m (560 ft) skyscraper and a 63 m (207 ft) high-rise residential building, in Frankfurt, Germany. The site is located in Frankfurt's financial district, the Bankenviertel, at the corner of Neue Mainzer Straße and Taunustor.

Key takeaways

Taunusturm belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Taunusturm to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Taunusturm from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

TaunusTurm (originally Kaiserkarree) is the project name for a complex of two buildings, a 170 m (560 ft) skyscraper and a 63 m (207 ft) high-rise residential building, in Frankfurt, Germany. The site is located in Frankfurt's financial district, the Bankenviertel, at the corner of Neue Mainzer Straße and Taunustor. The site borders a park named Taunusanlage, which gave the tower its name (the Taunus is a low mountain range north of Frankfurt). The buildings were designed by architecture firm Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg. The project developer is real estate building and operating company Tishman Speyer which also built the Messeturm and the Opernturm in Frankfurt. The start of construction was in April 2011 and the first tenants moved in February 2014.

History In 1998 the City of Frankfurt approved a new high-rise development plan which specifies where new skyscrapers are allowed to be built in the city. One of the approved locations was the estate owned by Commerzbank and Rheinhyp at Taunustor, right at the heart of Frankfurt's financial district. The development plan envisioned a 135 m (443 ft) high-rise building for the property, named Kaiserkarree. In 2000 architecture firm Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg won an architecture competition for the planned tower, but the project slowed down after the Dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and the September 11 attacks in 2001. Meanwhile the Rheinhyp became part of real estate bank Eurohypo and moved to Eschborn, therefore Commerzbank took over responsibility for the property. In 2007 Commerzbank announced that it wanted to sell the property because there was no need to use it for own purposes. At the end of the same year Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real bought the property and said that they would build the tower unchanged from the previous design. It was agreed upon with the City of Frankfurt that a part of the tower would be used for apartments. The demolition of the existing buildings on the property was scheduled to start in spring 2008 but was delayed because Tishman Speyer surprisingly announced that the plans for the tower had changed: Instead of one broad tower they changed the design to two towers, one 160 m (520 ft) and one 60 m (200 ft), and therefore a clear parting between office use and residential use. Tishman Speyer submitted a building application in 2010 and started the demolition process but shortly after the demolition was once again stopped because the main tenant for the office tower (rumoured to be Clifford Chance) cancelled the contract negotiations. Tishman Speyer then announced that the towers, now called Taunusturm, would not be built in the near future. In January 2011 demolition works continued and Tishman Speyer officially presented the final design for the towers, again from Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg: 170 m (560 ft) and 60 m (200 ft). The construction of the towers began in April 2011 and finished in time to open in February 2014.

Gallery

See also List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt List of tallest buildings in Germany

References

External links

TaunusTurm – Official Website Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg – Official Website Tishman Speyer – Official Website www.emporis.com/Kaiserkarree "Kaiserkarree" (old design)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Taunusturm

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Taunusturm claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Taunusturm before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Taunusturm ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Taunusturm

In research: Taunusturm appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Taunusturm in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Taunusturm is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 establishments in Germany, Buildings and structures completed in 2014, Residential skyscrapers in Germany, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Taunusturm outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Taunusturm” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Taunusturm in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Taunusturm means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Taunusturm out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Taunusturm in simple terms?

Why does Taunusturm matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Taunusturm?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Taunusturm.