The entry point to the office district of Frankfurt-Niederrad is landmarked by the image of Prisma Building. This structure, designed by Auer & Weber Architects, is representing a net total volume of about 118 million euros, introduces new technical and architectural standards with its innovative energy concept and striking appearance for a green office environment. Inside Prisma Building there is a unique “look-and-feel room” which featuring an innovative building concept.

Prisma Building is conceived as a raised angular building enveloped by a triangular climate modifying skin together, shaping a large and memorable building. Located on a sharp triangular site squeezed between two busy roads, it is represented with eleven-story administration building as a compact block construction: two massive beams and one double-skin glazed office beam surround a central atrium.

The spacious volume of the multi-function atrium space inside the glass skin provides dramatic perspectives from the different floors, with narrow bridges crossing it at different angles and free-standing elevator shaft, connecting specific parts of the building in a complex and inventive use of space on this awkward site.

The Prisma Building’s design is based on a concept of smart ventilation, and this is impacted to its appearance: a closed, partly-elevated, wedge shaped form contained within a glass shell, a building within a building. The resulting of in-between layer, which includes the atrium, forms a passive thermal environment and acts as a climatic buffer zone.

In winter air is drawn from the outside, pre-heated by the sun then from inside via the transmission heat flow, and the atrium becomes the exhaust, while in summer it is used as a supply of cool air supplied by underground channels for offices, then drawn out through the double facade. Solar chimneys provide thermal lift and further help to reduce the requirement for air-conditioning. The Prisma building in Frankfurt was planned and financed by HOCHTIEF and since 2002 the company has also been operating this striking structure.

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