Skyline

Skyline (English " horizon " or "abstract" ) is the partial view or the panorama, the signs of a city, with its tallest structures and structures against the horizon.

Skylines have a recall value for a city and characterize their appearance. Previously, the towers of the city fortifications and churches in Europe or steeples, minarets in Islamic culture shaped the city's skyline. Today, skyscrapers and TV towers are considered an important part of a skyline.

• 2.1 Berlin
• 2.2 Dortmund
• 2.3 Dresden
• 2.4 Food
• 2.5 Frankfurt am Main
• 2.6 Hamburg
• 2.7 Cologne
• 2.8 Leipzig
• 2.9 Munich

History

Towers have nicknamed " Manhattan of the Middle Ages " brings the small town of San Gimignano in Tuscany. Rival families tried to outdo each other in the height of their towers. This seemed to them to be more important than a luxurious life, that was not possible in such towers. Even more impressive was the sight of the towers of Bologna in the Middle Ages.

Middle Ages: city fortifications and church towers

San Gimignano: towers

Engraving of Speyer by Matthias Merian 1637 towers and churches

Vienna after the conversion of the medieval city wall in 1548

In the European Middle Ages, but usually not stamped business or residential buildings, but also the

• City walls with their walls, their wall, corner and gate towers on the one hand and on the other
• Church towers or partially naves city silhouettes.

Of these silhouettes engravings were often made ​​by specialized contractors, which provide us with the lost views of yesteryear. Because except for villages and towns in valleys, such as Churchill, an overview of a character position has not been possible were to represent hidden towers and church vessels or steeples on the engraving, images from two or three positions drawn and then the silhouette drawing unfolded. An example is Merian's engraving of Speyer, which is drawn from three positions, which were then composed together.

Modern Times: chimneys, TV towers, technical equipment

In modern times, large factories and especially factory chimneys began to dominate the skyline of the rapidly growing industrial cities.

Chicago is considered the birthplace of the skyscraper, since the ten-story Home Insurance Building, the first steel-framed house was built in 1885. At South Wacker Drive is the tallest building in Chicago, the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower ), which for a time was also the tallest building in the world.

With the development of television often the TV tower was the tallest and the skyline defining building in the city. As a lasting impression on the skyline apply, for example, the CN Tower in Toronto and in Germany, the Stuttgart television tower.

A special case is the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which was also the first radio tower, but was built primarily as a monument of progress for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution and has since shaped the skyline of the city.

Here and there are technical equipment such as conveyor towers in mining regions, blast furnaces, gas tanks or cooling towers of power plants that help shape a skyline or dominate in individual cases. At large chemical plants or petroleum refineries these often dominate the skyline.

In places can harbor large port cranes and warehouse buildings, for example, grain silos, in recent times, container plants shape the silhouette. Known relevant for the silhouette silos are, for example, the Henninger - Tower in Frankfurt and the Schapfenmühle in Ulm.

"Petroleum Refinery Upper Rhine (MRO ) " Karlsruhe

Port cranes in Bremen

21st century: Skyscraper

The first cities were famous for a Skyline, which were characterized by skyscrapers, were New York and Chicago, where Chicago was the pioneers, New York but was by far the more famous skyscraper city and therefore attracts millions of tourists.

In addition to lack of space and also be justified high land prices as first on New York's Peninsula Manhattan or the cities of Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore, in many cases, the need to demonstrate efficiency in the construction of skyscrapers and neighborhoods with skyscrapers plays a role, such as in the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the center of Shanghai Pudong.

In the list of cities with the most large buildings Hong Kong is registered with 7,659 skyscrapers in front of New York City with 5,571 and São Paulo with 4,803. In this census television towers, stadiums, churches and mosques are not considered.

In a ranking by Emporis, an information services company for the international real estate business, deciding the number of floors that have individual buildings. Emporis also assigns every year the architecture prize Emporis Skyscraper Award.

Germany

Berlin

Berlin in the Mitte district different buildings that form a skyline. In the center is the 368 -meter high TV tower at Alexanderplatz, and the 125 -meter-high Park Inn Hotel. The 125 -meter-high Treptowers also, the 93 -meter-high International Trade Centre at Friedrichstrasse, the red city hall, the 74 -meter-high cathedral, and residential high -rise development at Alexanderplatz also contribute to a striking city skyline.

The area- largest city in Germany, several high-rise centers spread throughout the city. Around the Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger along the road there is a conglomeration of high-rise buildings. Another center is located in Charlottenburg -Wilmersdorf. In the area around the station zoo in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church are several high-rise buildings that form an independent view. These include the 118 -meter high Zoofenster and the location at Breitscheidtplatz Europa Center.

For Berlin is typical that individual municipalities have typical skylines, so Spandau (old town with church and city hall ), Köpenick ( Old Town) or Steglitz ( gyro and beer brush).

Dortmund

In recent years, a significant cluster has evolved to high-rise buildings of medium height in Dortmund. Together with the medieval churches of St. Peter and St. Reinoldi form the office towers of Dortmund skyline. The tallest building in the city of Dortmund is at an altitude of 206 m of the Florian Tower, the tallest building is 91 m high ( RWE Tower ).

Dresden

Although Dresden's skyline shines not necessarily with height, but but with a centuries-old tradition. The famous " Canaletto view " is the view of the city front from the north shore of the Elbe, which is in its main features to this day. The maintenance of this townscape even went so far that buildings have been torn from GDR times again to create the historically fixed image.

In any case, the Dresden skyline with Semperoper, Dresden Castle and the Catholic Court Church, Frauenkirche, " lemon squeezer " ( dome of the Academy of Fine Arts ) and Town Hall Tower in the background (right to left) still a popular motif.

Food

Food is one of the few German cities with a compact high-rise grouping. Most high-rise buildings are concentrated in the South District south of downtown. The tallest building is the RWE tower with a height of 127 m.

Frankfurt am Main

The skyline of Frankfurt am Main, the city is also nicknamed Mainhatten. Since the opening of the Westend Gates in 1976, the tallest building in Frankfurt is also the tallest building in Europe. The fair tower was 257 meters the tallest building in Europe until it was surpassed by the 259 m high Commerzbank Tower. In Frankfurt 29 skyscrapers reach a minimum height of 100 meters, five of which reached the 200 meters. In addition to office buildings, the Frankfurt skyline is characterized by the 337.5 -meter-high tower of Europe ( TV tower ) and the 120 meter high Henninger Turm ( grain elevator ) from. In order to regulate the skyscrapers bauleitplanerisch, a high-rise frame plan was drawn up which establishes where and how skyscrapers can be built.

Hamburg

In Hamburg there, from the television tower and the other major churches of St. Nicholas (147 m) and St. Peter (133 m) apart, no higher than the 132 meter high building city church Michel. Hamburg's former First Mayor Ole von Beust responded sympathetically on the citizens of Munich 's decision: "At least teaches the referendum in Munich, that people accept to a great extent share in the shaping of their city. The Hamburg may well be sensitive to urban development projects. Is really close to the familiar view of the harbor, the city center ensemble with internal and external Alster and the silhouette of the church towers at heart that characterize the look and appearance of Hamburg's most. There is broad consensus in Hamburg that this view must remain unobstructed. "

Cologne

The Cologne Cathedral is 157 meters the tallest building in the city and was classified as one of Europe's masterpieces of Gothic architecture in 1996 by UNESCO and declared a World Heritage Site.

On 5 July 2004 the cathedral because of a " threat to the visual integrity of the cathedral and the unique city of Cologne silhouette through the high-rise building plans on the side opposite the cathedral side of the Rhine " is set by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger. Specifically, this meant up to 120 meters close to the Cathedral, the construction of a 103 meter high tower and the planning of three other high-rise buildings.

In negotiations on 13 July 2005 at the UNESCO Conference in Durban, South Africa, the final decision was postponed by one year. The German authorities should be given the opportunity to submit 2005 information about planned construction in Cologne- Deutz to end.

In July 2006, the World Heritage Committee decided at its 30th session in Vilnius, Lithuania, to emphasize the Cologne Cathedral from the list of World Heritage in Danger. To reflect the modified blueprints worn for the right bank of the shore; apart from the already completed KölnTriangle there are no other high-rise buildings more arise.

Leipzig

Leipzig is the only city in the new federal states with an - albeit rather weak - high-rise skyline. The tallest building in the city and the only skyscraper, the 155 -meter-high City Tower. The silhouette is complemented by three other high-rise buildings with 107, 96 and 70 meters in height and the style of historicism ' held tower of the New Town Hall, which is the tallest town hall tower in Germany with 115 meters. Even the outlying from the city center, 91 meters high Voelkerschlachtdenkmal is sometimes - especially in the stylization of silhouette - calculated at the Leipzig skyline.

Munich

In Munich, for the protection of the old and highly esteemed by the Munich cityscape until the early 1980s, the rule was that no high-rise could be higher than the 100 -meter high Frauenkirche. Also the BMW Tower held out for this rule. Even today, part of the approval process a cityscape tolerability study.

Was started as actually to build more than 100 meters, was formed to defend the old city silhouette the citizens' initiative "Our Munich," which launched a public petition against massive high-rise construction. In particular, the high-rise Uptown Munich was attacked as a negative example and referred to as a square nail. The citizens' initiative argued Munich belongs " to the few large cities such as Florence, Rome or Budapest, which have preserved a defensible city. " Munich should be no arbitrary 08/15-Hochhausstadt as give it a thousand times around the world. Munich must preserve its individuality. With these arguments, the initiative - Our -Munich could gain 35,000 signatures of support in 2004. Indeed, the citizens' initiative prevailed with her petition with 101 780 supporters with 50.8% votes in favor and 21.9 % turnout. With the new old height limit failed a whole series of high-rise projects. Although the new restriction on the height of 100 meters was only for a year, since no building was built, which exceeded this amount.