![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7e9/efa7/eb01/6512/d087/newsletter/05-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846655)
-
Architects: ingenhoven architects
- Area: 41370 m²
- Year: 2020
-
Photographs:ingenhoven architects / HGEsch
-
Manufacturers: Erco GmbH, Kone GmbH, WILA Lichttechnik GmbH, WINDSCHEID & WENDEL GmbH & Co. KG, Zumtobel
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7db/efa7/eb01/6512/d07b/newsletter/01-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846634)
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7df/efa7/eb01/6512/d07d/newsletter/02-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846641)
Sustainability is a mission: Eight kilometers of hornbeam hedges for a supergreen®-project. Over 30,000 plants – Europe’s largest green facade. The facade is an essential element of the Kö-Bogen II commercial and office building. The ensemble marks the conclusion of an urban renewal project in the heart of Düsseldorf. It also represents a paradigm shift: from an urban perspective, it signals a departure from the automotive era and a turn towards people-oriented planning. With Europe’s largest green facade, it offers an urban response to climate change and creating a new green heart in Düsseldorf’s inner city.
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Image 16 of 19](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7e9/efa7/eb01/6512/d086/medium_jpg/level-3.jpg?1627846666)
Today, where an elevated motorway once dominated the landscape, the Hofgarten has moved back into the heart of the city. Kö-Bogen’s sloping green facades face one another in a composition inspired by Land Art. The new building complex oscillates in a deliberate indeterminacy between city and park. The two structures form a dynamic entrance to Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz, which opens up the view to icons of post-war modernism – the clear austerity of the Dreischeibenhaus (1960) and the buoyant lightness of the Schauspielhaus (1970). Kö-Bogen II is a contemporary response to these two historic landmarks, without competing with them.
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7e2/efa7/eb01/6512/d07e/newsletter/07-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846645)
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Image 17 of 19](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7e6/c954/fd01/655c/74ad/newsletter/section.jpg?1627846657)
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7dd/efa7/eb01/6512/d07c/newsletter/04-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846640)
Going green. The hornbeam was intentionally selected as a native hardwood species that keeps its leaves in winter. A comprehensive phytotechnological concept was developed together with Prof. Dr. Strauch, Beuth University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, to incorporate the hedges into the building design. The greenery improves the city’s microclimate – it protects against the sun’s rays in summer and reduces urban heat, binds carbon dioxide, stores moisture, attenuates noise, and supports biodiversity.
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7df/c954/fd01/655c/74a9/newsletter/11-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846643)
The ecological benefit of the hornbeam hedges is equivalent to that of approximately 80 fully grown deciduous trees. This integration of nature into architecture offers a contemporary urban response to climate change. The aim of Kö-Bogen II is to pursue an overall ecological concept, explicitly to improve the city's microclimate.
![Kö-Bogen II Office Building / ingenhoven architects - Interior Photography, Cityscape](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6106/f7e2/c954/fd01/655c/74ab/newsletter/09-ko-bogen.jpg?1627846645)