The task was not easy: Bringing new life into an iconic 1970ies office building, located near the banks of the river Rhine in the German city of Cologne. As its commercial tenants had abandoned the landmark 12-storey tower several years ago, it had to be put to another use. Local architects JSWD were engaged to refurbish the building and construct attractive residential spaces. Its pure mass alone made it interesting for a residential use, as urban living in high-rise buildings has become a trend in Cologne.

The challenge for the architects was in the change of building usage, which requested the addition of spacious balconies to each unit. As this was an additional strain on the structure in terms of weight, building mass had to be reduced in other parts. Right then, the architects brought AQUAPANEL^® Cement Board Outdoor into play – the comparably light cement boards were the ideal choice of material to create new parts of the exterior walls and thus save weight.

At the same time the drywall solution offered best thermal and sound insulation characteristics as well as outstanding resistance to water and mould. Besides the exterior walls, AQUAPANEL^® Cement Board Outdoor was used on the balconies themselves, being an essential part of the exterior ceilings. Here their robustness and resilience was also highly appreciated, alone when it came to bear the wind loads in the higher storeys. Thus the FLOW tower could be successfully completed – featuring attractive white balconies with a unique view on the Rhine.