Content area
Full Text
Frankfurt, Germany's East End is undergoing a radical metamorphosis. Formerly home to industrial and manufacturing plants, the district has grown into a sought-after center for artists and designers who in turn support an expanding roster of restaurants, bars, and clubs. Among the new boites is the aptly named Cocoon Club, where transformation is the norm. Created by the Weisbaden-based interdisciplinary design firm 3deluxe, the 29,000-square-foot club combines dancing, dining, drinking, and networking within a light-filled interior that practically vibrates with multimedia and graphic elements.
The complex sits on the street level of the five-story U.F.O. office building designed by local Deitz Joppien Architeckten. (No, it's not an alien abduction center: U.F.O. is an acronym for "Unbekannter Frankfurter Osten," or "Unknown Eastern Part of Frankfurt.") The triangular footprint of the complex, with its three points gently rounded, guided 3deluxe's interior architecture. The central dance zone is ringed by a series of circulation areas and lounges that feed into two restaurants and the restrooms, which are arranged along the building perimeter. Although specific areas have been allocated for discrete uses, the nightclub interiors rely on visual transparency and functional flexibility to create an immersive, sensory environment.
A 325-foot-long "membrane wall," fabricated of concrete panels that serve as projection screens, delineates the three sides of the 8,500-square-foot main Cocoon space. The club is equipped with 23 digital light projectors and an equal number of software systems that also control a LED matrix with a...