The JenTower is a skyscraper in Jena, Germany.
The JenTower is a skyscraper in Jena, Germany.
The tower has been known by many names, official and unofficial. From 1992 until January 2005, the tower was called the Intershop Tower after its principal tenant, Intershop Communications AG. On November 30, 2004, the building was renamed the JenTower. Until 1995 the building was used by the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, and therefore it is still colloquially known as the University Tower.
Further unofficial names include Phallus Jenensis, Cookie Roll (Keksrolle), University Tower (Uniturm) or the Henselmann tower, after the architect Hermann Henselmann. Often it is just called the tower.
The JenTower stands directly opposite to the so-called Building 15, which was the first German highrise building. Building 15 was erected in to a height of 43 meters in 1915, based on plans by the architect Friedrich Puetzer (1871–1922). Other buildings in the neighborhood are Building 36 (today seat of the Jenoptik) and Building 59 (Carl Zeiss Jena Research building), likewise designed by Henselmann.
The architect of the tower was Hermann Henselmann, one of the most famous architects of the former German Democratic Republic. The idea of a monolithic tower as an "urban crown" was developed by Bruno Taut, who was city architect in Magdeburg in the 1920s.
Construction began in June 1969, in a residential and business quarter spared by the Second World War. The foundation stone was laid on April 30, 1970. Construction took place in sliding scarf building method, and was completed on October 2, 1972 at the original height of 127 meters. The circular tower is a reinforced concrete construction with two basements, a 3.20-meter-thick mat foundation and a diameter of 33 meters.
In 1968‐1969 there were also state plans to build a recreation center for VEB Zeiss workers next to the tower. This additional building would have displaced the historical Collegium Jenese cloister. These plans were scrapped due to protests of the locals, in particular those of microbiologist Hans Knöll, and due to the poor financial shape of VEB Zeiss at the time. Even the tower itself proved too expensive for VEB Zeiss to maintain, and it was moved into the property of the University of Jena after it was completed, despite the University's protestations. [1]
In 1999 the building was sold to an investor, who completed a modernization in 2001. At this time, two additional floors and a UMTS antenna were added, and the 28th and 29th floors were converted into a restaurant. Including the antenna the tower reaches 159 meters. The building was the second tallest in East Germany after the City Hochhaus Leipzig, and after two additional stories were added in 2001, became the tallest in former East Germany. It is currently the 28th-highest in Germany. All 25 that are taller are in former West Germany.
Jena is a city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a population of about 110,000. Jena is a centre of education and research; the university was founded in 1558 and had 18,000 students in 2017 and the Ernst-Abbe-Fachhochschule Jena counts another 5,000 students. Furthermore, there are many institutes of the leading German research societies.
Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the Thüringer Städtekette, an almost straight string of cities consisting of the six largest Thuringian cities from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena to Gera in the east. Gera is the largest city in the Vogtland, and one of its historical capitals along with Plauen, Greiz and Weida. The city lies in the East Thuringian Hill Country, in the wide valley of the White Elster, between Greiz (upstream) and Leipzig (downstream). Gera is located in the Central German Metropolitan Region, approximately 60 kilometres south of Saxony's largest city of Leipzig, 80 km east of Thuringia's capital Erfurt, 120 km west of Saxony's capital Dresden and 90 km north of Bavaria's city of Hof (Saale).
The Fernsehturm in central Berlin was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the government of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, as both a functional broadcasting facility and a symbol of Communist power.
City-Hochhaus is 36-story skyscraper in Leipzig, Germany. At 142.5 m (468 ft), it is the tallest multistory building in Leipzig and is located proximately of the eastern part of the inner city ring road in Leipzig's district Mitte. The tower was designed by architect Hermann Henselmann in the shape of an open book, and built between 1968 and 1972. It followed Henselmann's idea to cap central places in cities with a prominent tower, such as the Jen-Tower in Jena and Fernsehturm in Berlin.
Der Oderturm is a 24-storey, 89 m (292 ft) office building in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, built between 1968 and 1976 when the city was part of East Germany. It is the tallest building in Brandenburg. The 107 m (351 ft) hall containing Tropical Islands and the 161 m (528 ft) steam generator at Schwarze Pumpe power station are taller structures, though they lack occupied floors.
The Kulturfinger is the nickname of a steel-framed tower built during the days of the communist German Democratic Republic that is the tallest building in Neubrandenburg, Germany. It is part of the Haus der Kultur und Bildung or HKB, the city's cultural institution.
The Wüstenrot Tower is a high-rise building in Ludwigsburg that was the central office building of GdF Wüstenrot, a building and loan association. It was designed by architect Prof. Ludwig Kresse in Stuttgart. The address of the 72 metres tall building is Im Tambour 1, 71630 Ludwigsburg.
Hermann Henselmann was a German architect most famous for his buildings constructed in East Germany during the 1950s and 1960s.
Donau City, or Vienna DC, is a new part of Vienna's 22nd District Donaustadt, next to both the Reichsbrücke and the left bank of the Danube's 21.1 km new channel, Neue Donau.
Athens Towers, is a complex of two buildings situated in Athens, Greece. Athens Tower 1 is 103 m (338 ft) and 28 storeys high, making it the tallest building in Greece, while Athens Tower 2 has 15 storeys and a height of 65 m (213 ft) being the 8th tallest in Greece.
Hans Knöll was a German physician and microbiologist. He was the director of the Central Institute of Microbiology and Experimental Therapy in Jena from 1953 to 1976, a member of the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic, and professor of bacteriology at the University of Jena. He was awarded the National Prize of the GDR in 1949 and 1952. In the late 1960s he got involved in an effort to save the historic center of Jena, protesting against the "socialist" urban development plans.
The Treptowers is a complex of buildings with a distinctive high-rise in the Alt-Treptow district of Berlin, Germany. Completed in 1998, the complex is located on the river Spree. The name "Treptowers" is a portmanteau word from Treptow and the English word "tower".
Die Sechzehn Grundsätze des Städtebaus, or The Sixteen Principles of Urban Design, were from 1950 until 1955 the primary model for urban planning in the GDR.
The Iconic Tower is a mixed-use supertall skyscraper in the New Administrative Capital of Egypt. With a total structural height of almost 400 metres (1,300 ft), it is both the tallest building and the tallest structure in Africa. It has 77 floors, mostly for office use, and is one of 20 towers being built as part of the central business district in the new capital city. The total area of the tower exceeds 265,000 m2 (2,850,000 sq ft).
The Wintergartenhochhaus is a 32-story high-rise building in Leipzig-Mitte, subdivision Ostvorstadt. The residential building was built from 1970 to 1972 as Wohnhochhaus Wintergartenstraße and is the third tallest high-rise in Leipzig after the City-Hochhaus and the Hotel The Westin. With a total height of 106.8 m (350 ft) and 95.5 m (313 ft) roof height, it was the tallest residential building in the East Germany and is now in the top hundred on the list of high-rise buildings in Germany. As a building of modernity and testimony of East German architectural history with rarity value, it is under cultural heritage protection.
50°55′43″N11°35′04″E / 50.92861°N 11.58444°E
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
