Facing the popular urban square known as the ‘Agora’ the building’s 165-metre-long south facade is fully glazed, allowing exhibitors and visitors alike a view to events within and outside of the lofty market hall.

Accessed from west and east foyer entrances, the new Messehalle creates 40,000 sq m of exhibition space and is one of the largest column-free spaces in Europe. A recognisable gleaming roof envelops the project. Essentially one giant folded form, the structure of welded steel tubes extends the full length of the hall.

Constructed from just 6 different panel types, its deck of prefabricated profiled steel sheets create the distinctive troughs and peaks, which were produced with an in-built twist at minimum cost.

Inside, clerestory windows filter more light into the large, glazed hall. Upper and lower level exhibition halls are separated by a double deck, which accommodates plant and service ducts, as well as forming the upper pedestrian route to the existing Messe. Giving expansive views across the site to the Agora, the Messehalle is very much a public building in a vibrant city centre.