The Frankfurt Prototype
©
Sven Tränkner

Special exhibition

„The Frankfurt Prototype“

An innovative building project of Städelschule in cooperation with the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (UAS) and the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

A small public market hall on the first floor, living and working spaces for students on the second floor and a large green shelf extension form the experimental building “The Frankfurt Prototype”, which will be on public display for 3 months, starting October 2nd, in the courtyard of the Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut and Naturmuseum Frankfurt. It was designed by students of the Städelschule and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (UAS) together with engineers and architects as well as researchers from the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. The project focuses on developing novel typologies of affordable, sustainable housing that encourage new forms of living, working and spending time together in times of climate crisis and a fundamental change in the use of public space and the city. 

You can find more information about “The Frankfurt Prototype” on Instagram.

The Frankfurt Prototype
©
Sven Tränkner

The base has been built of salvaged old steel, the living units above with used formwork wood, to keep CO2 emissions of the construction work as low as possible. The small market hall, a “public living room” on the first floor of the “Frankfurt Prototype, can become a theater stage, an exhibition venue or an actual market where sustainable agricultural products will be offered. The upper floors consists of modular, prefabricated residential units that are covered with used formwork wood; unlike usual containers they can be flexibly interconnected to accommodate various forms of use.

The Frankfurt Prototype
©
Sven Tränkner

The Frankfurt Prototype was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Kunst und Kultur, LOEWE-Exploration 5, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Schöpflin Stiftung, Heinz und Gisela Friederichs Stiftung and Crespo Foundation. Additional support was provided by Bernd Meÿ, Städelschule Portikus e.V. and Stiftung ohne Titel, 2016.
We would like to thank Barkow Leibinger and Schneider+Schumacher (architects) as well as Hormazd Vakharia, Village Studio (architect) and Arup (engineering) for their commitment and help during the realization of the project.