Written by Andrew Dominguez
Participant LMU Engineering Program 2010
After an early morning Physics class and short lunch break, it was time for our next excursion; this time it was to Frankfurt to learn about a giant in the industry of civil engineering called HOCHTIEF. Once we arrived, we were greeted with a most welcome platter of cookies, but more importantly coffee! HOCHTIEF put on a thirty minute presentation on how one of their recently constructed buildings utilized green technologies for heating and cooling. They designed a most impressive system to utilize only natural elements like sun light and temperature of the soil surrounding the building. HOCHTIEF was able to not only save 20 million Euro in an upfront construction cost, but all of the cost heating and cooling such a large building requires in the long run as well.
Next we were off to see the inner workings of the building that we just heard about. We walked about 10 minutes down the road and there it was. We wondered around the building, climbed up and down from the atrium, crossed an internal bridge and peered into the visible environmentally friendly systems, for most of them are behind the walls or in inaccessible parts of the building. As we came across each of the systems discussed before we were told more in-depth of how they work.
After this, we got the chance to bear witness to the construction of a 185 meter tall building called T-185. It was inspiring and a bit overwhelming to see the sheer amount of materials that it takes to create such a building. While it is not the biggest building in the world, Germany, nor Frankfurt, it still was impressive to see such a colossal undertaking. As we arrived we had a short presentation on the history of the construction and a short background of the steps up to where it is at right now. Then we strapped on our steel toe yellow construction boots and took a construction elevator to the top. It was a beautiful sight as it looked out over much of Frankfurt, but a more impressive sight was all of rebar, cement and wood inside the building that was arranged in what looks like a precise mess. After a little while exploring and taking pictures it was back to Bonn and another school day.
Cheers!
