HOCH OBEN IM ERDGESCHOSS

Das Trianon in Frankfurt ist Sitz der Deka Bank und mit 186 Metern die Nummer 5 unter den höchsten Häusern in Deutschland.  Der Fahrstuhl rast in den 44. Stock, zu schnell als dass Wong Mun Summ sein preisgekröntes Gebäude das Met in einer Art Elevator Pitch vorstellen könnte. Oben angekommen, ist Zeit für ein Interview.

Globe-M: Mr. Wong, would you please describe the extraordinary and new thing about your rewarded building?



Wong Mun Summ: I think it’s a fundamental rethink of the high-rise model for the tropics. Currently in the tropical cities most of the high-rise buildings are still very much based on the old model that evoked out of Chicago. Very much a central core structure and services core with a sealed curtain wall. But in the tropics it needed and required to be the other way round. Where the building is less compact and more opened up so that you can actually enjoy the natural elements the wind, the sun, etc. you get when you are higher and certainly also allowing natural vegetation to grow within the building itself. So very similar to a situation when you are living in a ground level now we actually put such qualities into a high-rise building.


Globe-M: Chicago skyskrapers were influenced by Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe. Do you think this developement has already led in the wrong direction?

Wong Mun Summ: I think that the Mies van der Rohe buildings are fantastic for what they are. They were really functional and it adresses the fundamental needs of where it evoked from. What our point is: the same high-rise model is not applicable in a tropical area and that requires a rethink. At that point of time high-rises were not a issue in asian cities. But currently, it is a big issue because of the large population and the amount of wealth that is coming on to asian cities.



Globe-M: Is your model applicable to countries in the west?



Wong Mun Summ: I think it will have to be adapted to bring in the relevant and the desired qualities into a different area and certainly to the west as well.



Globe-M: You described your building as ugly at the first sight.



Wong Mun Summ: In some ways we are true to form follows function. And our expression comes out from the ideas within the design itself. We seldom create a form for the sake of creating a form. Personally I don't see creating a form is the approach that we would think, but we would like the elements in the design to evoke the esthetic qualities of a building.



Globe-M:  Thank you for the interview.

Das Gespräch führte Roland Opschondek
Foto:oro

zur Person
Wong Mun Summ, 48, ist Mitgrüder des Architekturbüros WOHA in Singapur.
2010 gewann sein Büro den mit 50.000 Euro dotierten Internationalen Hochhaus Preis (IHP) für das Wohnhochhaus The Met.

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