The international team of OLIN and TRAFICO, an Austrian traffic engineering firm, was selected to participate in a competition to redesign plazas adjacent to Frankfurt Main Station in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. With 350,000 daily visitors, Frankfurt Main Station is one of the busiest in Europe. Currently, the plazas surrounding the Station are deteriorating and overwhelmed by traffic. In addition, the competition called for designs that would utilize an abandoned underground passage below the track field as well as how best to integrate a new, 600-foot tower and international bus terminal into the existing urban fabric. OLIN and TRAFICO proposed an extensive reorganization of infrastructure including light rails, regional and international buses, and other vehicular traffic. The result is the creation of an elegant and generous plaza with ample room for pedestrian movement and events.

Contact OLIN at info@theolinstudio.com for more details on these upcoming lectures:

2.28.09 David Rubin, LABASH 2009, The Pennsylvania State University

3.13.09 David Rubin, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

3.26.09 Dennis McGlade, Downtown Baltimore Business Over Breakfast

3.31.09 David Rubin, Colorado State University

4.02.09 David Rubin, Philadelphia University

4.02.09 Susan Weiler, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

4.30.09 Skip Graffam, AIA 2009 National Convention