The Köln Triangle

Architect	Gatermann + Schossig
Date Built	2006
Location	Hermann-Punder-Strasse

Gatermann & Schossig say of their Koln Triangle building that it has, " ... introduced a graceful presence to the city’s skyline". The reason why a circular tower is known as the Koln Triangle is due to the fact that the tower sits on a roughly triangular ground plan. The Triangle is an innovative office building that extends over 29 floors and incorporates a restaurant and a panoramic platford on the roof offering an unprecedented view of Cologne and particularly of the cathedral on the other side of the Rhine. The architects point out that the building, ".... employs a range of sustainable features, including geothermal heat pumps, a heat-recovery system, activation of the thermal mass and a decentralised ventilation system which allows the individual environmental regulation of each floor." Apparently the original owner of the building was the Rheinische Versorgungskassen - the RVK - or Rheinische pension funds and as a result it was known then as the RVK tower.