Highlight Towers

{{Short description|Twin tower office skyscraper complex completed in 2004 in Munich, Germany}}

{{Infobox building

| name = Highlight Towers

| alternate_name = Langenscheidt-Hochhäuser

| image = Highlight Towers Muenchen A9-1.jpg

| location = Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße
Munich, Germany

| coordinates = {{coord|48|10|36|N|11|35|32|E|region:DE-BY|display=inline,title}}

| architectural_style= Modernism

| status = Complete

| completion_date = 2002 - 2004

| building_type = Commercial offices

| roof = Tower I: {{convert|126|m|abbr=on}}
Tower II: {{convert|113|m|abbr=on}}

| floor_count = Tower I: 33
Tower II: 28

| elevator_count =

| cost =

| floor_area = {{convert|73,836|m2|abbr=on}}

| architect = Murphy Jahn

| structural_engineer=stahl + verbundbau

| main_contractor =Strabag Bau-AG

| developer =

| owner =

| management =

| references = {{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/complex/100693 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306025041/https://www.emporis.com/complex/100693 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |title=Emporis building complex ID 100693 |work=Emporis}}{{SkyscraperPage|5702|Highlight Tower I}}{{SkyscraperPage|19503|Highlight Tower II}}{{Structurae|20007979|Highlight Tower I}}{{Structurae|20007980|Highlight Tower II}}

}}

Highlight Towers is a twin tower office skyscraper complex completed in 2004 in Munich, Germany, planned by architects Murphy/Jahn of Chicago. Tower I is {{convert|126|m|abbr=on}} tall with 33 storeys, and Tower II is {{convert|113|m|abbr=on}} tall with 28 storeys, which make them among the highest buildings in the city. The towers are joined by two skyways made of glass and steel. Also in the complex are two low-rise buildings between the twin towers, that serve as a hotel and additional office space. Overall, the facility offers approximately {{convert|73,836|m2|abbr=on}} of office space.

The towers are slightly shifted in the historic sightline of Odeonsplatz on Ludwigstraße with Victory Gate to the north and form a focal point for visitors coming from the north of the city.

Tenants

The best known tenants of the buildings are the IT and consulting firms Unify and Fujitsu Technology Solutions, as well as IBM.{{cite web | url=https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/48443.wss | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218020659/http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/48443.wss | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 18, 2015 |title=IBM Opens Watson IoT Global Headquarters, Extends Power of Cognitive Computing to a Connected World |website=IBM |date=15 December 2015}}

Controversy

With construction works finished in the same year as Hochhaus Uptown München, the two towers helped motivate the formation of a citizens' initiative aimed at preventing the development of further structures of this type and size. Leading architects criticized the buildings as "imported imitation architecture" and "faceless yard ware", while local residents expressed concerns related to the skyscrapers destroying the traditional cityscape.{{cite web|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/buergerentscheid-begruendung-der-initiative-unser-muenchen-1.748746|title=Begründung der "Initiative Unser München"|publisher=Süddeutsche Zeitung|date=10 May 2010|language=de|access-date=11 August 2020}}

Gallery

{{gallery | title=Highlight Towers

|File:Highlight Towers Schwabinger See-1.jpg|

|File:Highlight Towers-2.jpg|

|File:München - Highlight Towers (Luftbild).jpg|

|File:Highlight Towers Munich looking north.jpg|

|File:Highlight Towers Munich 2014.jpg|

|File:Highlight Towers Munich, February 2017 -01.jpg|

}}

References

{{Reflist}}