Parks Department receives DMK Award

The central workshop and administration building designed by schneider+schumacher – which forms the headquarters of the Parks Department and Frankfurt’s Office for Road Construction and Development – has been voted top in the category "Public and Commercial Buildings" in the 2017 DMK Award for Sustainable Building. The jury commented that they were swayed by how skilfully the passive energy house responded to the challenges of the former vacant urban plot located alongside Frankfurt’s railway tracks. They also highlighted other sustainable building features – such as the evaporation cooling and the use of rainwater for washing processes in the machine halls. In addition the jury praised the architects’ use of "specific architectural means", such as the curved façade to break up the 220-meter-long elevation, and how they had enhanced the experience of vertical movement through the stairwells.

The client for the building (completed 2015) was G&L ARS Management GmbH. The award ceremony took place in the "Villa im Tal" in Wiesbaden. The DMK Award has been presented since 2010 by the Dagmar + Matthias Krieger Foundation in cooperation with the BFW/LFW Landesverband Freie Immobilien- und Wohnungsunternehmen Hessen / Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland e.V.

Pictured (left to right): Prof. Alexander Reichel, of Reichel Architekten, also chairman of the jury; Dr. Franz Alt, "missionary for sustainability" and winner of the DMK honorary prize; Christian Simons, managing director at schneider+schumacher, Matthias Krieger, managing partner of the Krieger + Schramm Group + vice chairman of the Dagmar + Matthias Krieger Foundation.