Cologne 3: Kranhäuser

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Just outside the city center of Cologne, a small island is being redeveloped. It is an enormously interesting site where beautiful old warehouses are being converted and new buildings are being built. Sure, in the past decennia centrally located harbor areas have been redeveloped all across Europe. But Cologne has achieved to still add a new feature to the classic receipt: Kranhäuser.

Cranehouses, translated in English. A name that points to the supposed iconography of the buildings: the harbor cranes that once stood here. I keep finding that fascinating, as it means the architecture points back to the history of the site, while at the same time projecting a new condition into the future. It is like the triglyphs in the architecture of the Greek temples: made in stone, but referring to the wooden beam that punctuated the façade at the time these structures were still built in wood.

The iconography reminds me of the Shipping and Transport College in Rotterdam, designed by Neutelings Riedijk. There though, the iconography of the crane is merely contextual (not historical) and a ‘Duckian’ representation of the program. What the ‘cranehouses’ and college have in common, is that the iconography is pretty hard - if not impossible - to recognize if you wouldn’t know it. In Cologne some of the old cranes are still standing on the quay. They look very different.

In that sense Peter Zumthor’s abstract recreation of the Gothic architecture in his Kolumba building, discussed in the previous post, is far more convincing.

What is cool about the ‘cranehouses’ is that the form is a functional response to the parameters set by the site. The islands is very slim and structured by a central road. Add to this a request for views over the river, and a demand for big floors (to reduce the usage of lifts in the offices) and the form almost automatically emerges. There are obviously different configurations imaginable, but there is certainly a pragmatic aspect to the architecture.

The buildings have been designed by BRT, an architecture office from Hamburg. Next to the two ‘cranehouses’ with offices, a third one is planned containing houses. A sort of ‘2 + 1’ situation, as the apartment building will feature balconies all over its façade. Next to the two buildings with a smooth skin, the third is ‘contaminated’ with living. Just kidding.

As with El Lissitsky’s Wolkenbügel, we could imagine ‘cranehouses’ popping up everywhere in Cologne, programmed with offices or dwellings according to demand. The repetition of the ‘cranehouses’, in combination with the alternating program, poses that utopian question: is this the answer? Is this the final model?

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Kranhäuser, Cologne (Photographer: Michiel van Raaij) (click-2-enlarge)

Related: ICE, by BRT; T’s, by Holl