Düsseldorf, Germany
Jürgen Mayer H and his design team at J. Mayer H. Architects along with associate architects Höhler + Partner and landscape architects RMP Stephan Lenze have completed a bold, new striking sky tower wrapped in a “zipper” for developer RKM Tower GmbH & Co. KG on the former campus of Dominikus Krankenhaus along the Rhine River in Düsseldorf.
Won in an international competition in 2011, the Zipper RKM 740 Tower features new residences and a large range of healthcare facilities as the tower and complex mark the start of the city center.
This residential building and medical center is part of a concept that aims at maintaining and modernizing the hospital on the historic grounds of the former Dominikus Krankenhaus in Dusseldorf-Heerdt, a former hospital located directly on the Rhine.
The successor to a Dominican hospital, the institution was founded in 1892 and fundamentally changed in 1972/73 with the erection of a new building and the demolition of the old hospital.
For ten years now, it has been in the process of stepwise transformation under new ownership.
In 2021, J.MAYER H. won the commission in the international competition for the fifth of six phases of construction, proposing a signet that shapes the skyline of Dusseldorf east of the Rhine.
The building, together with the nearby Vodaphone Tower, takes up the traffic from the West like a city gate and serves as a counterweight to the striking existing buildings of the hospital.
At kilometer 740 of the Rhine, at a tight curve in the course of the river, the new silhouette towers high on the left bank, visible from far away.
The architecture takes shape with a unique facade of perforated metal, and a curtain that serves to shade the interiors.
The facade is designed and characterized by its gentle curvatures and zipper-like patterning, this skin strategically opens and closes according to the building’s orientation.
The dynamic, organic shape of the building rises like clouds of mist towards a thin volume at the top.
It seems to grow in horizontal folds that move in the wind, condense, narrow and oscillate before your eyes, becoming unfocused.
They shroud the cubature of the new high-rise like a dress where a round-about zipper opens narrow, and then broader openings, revealing a glimpse of the skin beneath.
At the same time, the texture of the perforated façade protects from unwanted gazes and from the sun and wind.
The gaze in the reverse direction allows for breathtaking views of the banks of the Rhine and the city of Dusseldorf.
While the complex until now has featured solely residential buildings, the six-story base of the RKM 740 Tower features a clinic of physicians in several fields, in which the most various areas of medicine and treatment methods are practiced.
The presence of joint practices, specialists, and therapists in one place allows synergy effects to develop with the nearby hospital and helps to provide comprehensive care, making it a prototype of a future clinic.
Like a zipper, the transitions between open and closed are gradual and allow for flexible adaptation during the process of development over the years.
Project: Zipper RKM 740 Tower
Architects: J. Mayer H. Architects
Lead Architects: Jürgen Mayer H., Andre Santer, and Paul Angelier
Design Team: Ana I. Alonso, Isabell Fogden, Matthias Gotter, Max Margorskyi, Anna Pidhorna, Marta Ramirez Iglesias, Christine Rosemann, and Jens Seiffert
On-Site Architects: Höhler + Partner
Landscape Architects: RMP Stephan Lenzen Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH
Structural Engineers: AWD Ingenieure
Façade Planner: Ebener GmbH
Client: RKM Tower GmbH & Co. KG
Photographers: Lars Gruber, Nils Koenning, David Frank, and Stefan Streit Fotografie
