Goethe Tower, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Customer Project
As of July 2020, the Frankfurt City Forest once again has a lookout tower. The old Goethe Tower completely burned down due to arson in October 2017. The new Goethe Tower was designed similar to the original design from 1931. This time, however, it was built without chemical wood preservatives.
| Owner |
Grünflächenamt Frankfurt am Main frankfurt.de |
| Object and Structural Design |
Wirth Haker PartmbB Beratende Ingenieure ing-wh.de |
| Assembly |
Holzbau Amann GmbH www.holzbau-amann.de |
Model Parameters
Model
Dlubal customer Wirth Haker PartmbB from Freiburg, Germany was responsible for the object and structural design. The office used RFEM for the structural analysis of the lattice tower and the pulpit on the top.
Structure
The total height of the tower structure is 141 ft, and the width of the four columns is 24 ft on center at the base. The tower tapers towards the top, where the column spacing is 16.4 ft. The columns are oriented towards the center of the structure. They each have a 1.3 ft diameter at the bottom and 0.82 ft at the top.
In order to achieve high durability, block-glued chestnut timber was used for the support members. There is no approval for glued chestnut timber in outdoor locations. Therefore, tests were carried out at the Materials Testing Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, and approval was obtained per individual case. The stair treads and platforms are made of oak.
The joints are made of duplex coated steel. They were designed in a way (with dowels and key screws) so that individual support elements can be exchanged easily in the future. Effective solutions for wood protection were also fulfilled. For example, the tops of all horizontal beams and face sides are covered with sheets. In addition, all timber parts are connected with steel to provide a gap between the elements for air circulation.
Project Location
Keywords
Tower Lookout tower Truss Timber Timber structures
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