Insights into an Archi­tec­tur­al Masterpiece

Why a Tour of the Kö-Bogen is Worth It

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 12. Novem­ber 2024

When it comes to mod­ern archi­tec­ture, one can­not over­look Daniel Libe­s­kind. The renowned archi­tect has left his mark on the world with impress­ive struc­tures, from the Jew­ish Museum in Ber­lin to pro­jects in the USA, Dubai, and England.

One of the high­lights here in Ger­many is the Kö-Bogen, situ­ated in the heart of Düs­sel­dorf. Since its open­ing in 2013, it has become a new cen­ter of the city. Even its ground­break­ing two years pri­or was a major event that drew sig­ni­fic­ant media atten­tion. Today, exclus­ive tours offer unique per­spect­ives on this icon­ic structure.

The Kö-Bogen serves as an office and shop­ping cen­ter, hous­ing top brands like Apple, Porsche Design, Wind­sor, and Bre­uninger. Its mod­ern design and com­mit­ment to sus­tain­able build­ing have set new stand­ards from the start. Libe­s­kind has craf­ted a struc­ture that reflects urb­an life in all its diversity, seam­lessly weav­ing in Düsseldorf’s his­tory and nature. It stands as a prime example of how Libe­s­kind integ­rates mod­ern archi­tec­ture with loc­al identity.

“I wanted to cre­ate a space with­in the his­tor­ic­al set­ting of König­sallee that would enrich the daily lives of its res­id­ents. The Kö-Bogen does this by mer­ging busi­ness and leisure—dining, shop­ping, work­ing, and relaxing—all in one place.” – Daniel Libeskind

The build­ing blends eleg­antly into the city­scape, con­nect­ing the bust­ling Schad­owstraße with the redesigned Hofgarten prom­en­ade. It has become a pop­u­lar path­way, enhan­cing the pub­lic space. Its curved design of stone, glass, and alu­min­um offers fresh per­spect­ives at every angle. The greened façade cutouts are par­tic­u­larly strik­ing; span­ning mul­tiple stor­ies, they fea­ture vibrant blooms that are auto­mat­ic­ally watered and fer­til­ized. This har­mo­ni­ous blend of archi­tec­ture and green space is char­ac­ter­ist­ic of Libe­s­kind, show­cas­ing his unmis­tak­able style seen in oth­er pro­jects like Babels­berg and Geretsried.

With the open­ing of the Kö-Bogen, Düs­sel­dorf gained not only a bold visu­al land­mark but also took an import­ant step towards becom­ing a mod­ern, liv­able city. Thanks to its unique archi­tec­ture and prime loc­a­tion, the Kö-Bogen has quickly become a con­tem­por­ary icon of the state cap­it­al. Tours offer a rare chance to learn more about this masterpiece—an explor­a­tion well worth under­tak­ing. Inter­na­tion­al experts have also taken notice, and in 2014, the com­plex was awar­ded the MIPIM Award in Cannes. Known as the “Oscars” of the real estate world, this award is a test­a­ment to the high qual­ity and vis­ion­ary spir­it of Libeskind’s work, prom­ising an excit­ing future..

Cred­it: Andreas Ender­mann und Sven Kubeile

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Mich­elin-Star Chef Anthony Sar­pong at the Miele Exper­i­ence Cen­ter in Kö-Bogen

Chefs in Town: A Culin­ary High­light in Düsseldorf

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 01. Okto­ber 2024.

Last week­end, Düs­sel­dorf trans­formed into the epi­cen­ter of the culin­ary world as the city cel­eb­rated the premiere of the new food fest­iv­al *Chefs in Town*. With over 100 events across the city, thou­sands of vis­it­ors were treated not only to exquis­ite culin­ary exper­i­ences but also to deep­er insights into the world of gast­ro­nomy. One of the standout high­lights took place at the Miele Exper­i­ence Cen­ter in Kö-Bogen, where Mich­elin-star chef Anthony Sar­pong, along­side prom­ising young tal­ent from the region, show­cased his skills.

With around 160 guests dur­ing the peak hours of 2:00 to 4:00 pm, the event at the Miele Exper­i­ence Cen­ter was a resound­ing suc­cess. Guests had the unique oppor­tun­ity to wit­ness young chefs work­ing side by side with the Mich­elin-star chef, pre­par­ing mouth-water­ing samples that brought the art of fine din­ing to life. Anthony Sar­pong, known for his appear­ances on TV shows like *The Taste*, demon­strated in a live cook­ing ses­sion how exclus­ive dishes are cre­ated from high-qual­ity ingredients.

But the event was about more than just tan­tal­iz­ing taste buds. In a mod­er­ated talk, Anthony Sar­pong shared fas­cin­at­ing insights into his culin­ary jour­ney and the chal­lenges he faces in the world of haute cuisine. From his humble begin­nings to his future vis­ions, the star chef spoke can­didly about his pas­sion for cook­ing and emphas­ized the import­ance of cre­ativ­ity and crafts­man­ship in the culin­ary industry. Anoth­er high­light was the giveaway of 30 signed cop­ies of his cook­book *Anthony’s Kit­chen: Fine Din­ing for Every­one*, much to the delight of the lucky winners.

A key focus of the event was also to inspire the next gen­er­a­tion of chefs. Work­ing closely with the young culin­ary tal­ents who act­ively par­ti­cip­ated in the live cook­ing show, Sar­pong made a strong state­ment about the import­ance of nur­tur­ing and sup­port­ing aspir­ing chefs. The Miele Exper­i­ence Cen­ter in Kö-Bogen provided the per­fect stage to demon­strate how essen­tial it is to bring fresh ideas into the kit­chen and excite the young­er gen­er­a­tion about careers in the culin­ary arts.

Anthony Sar­pong and the Miele Exper­i­ence Cen­ter once again proved that fine din­ing can be both exclus­ive and access­ible, as well as inspir­ing. The per­fect blend of culin­ary expert­ise, know­ledge-shar­ing, and enter­tain­ment made for an unfor­get­table exper­i­ence, leav­ing guests eager for more.

Porsche Design Cel­eb­rates Store Re-Open­ing Event at Kö-Bogen

The lux­ury brand Porsche Design con­tin­ues to set new standards

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 18. Septem­ber 2024

The lux­ury brand Porsche Design con­tin­ues to set new stand­ards and recently cel­eb­rated the re-open­ing of its flag­ship store at Kö-Bogen after an extens­ive renov­a­tion. The impress­ive store, span­ning two levels and 170 square meters, show­cases the brand’s entire col­lec­tion – from watches, eye­wear, and bags to elec­tron­ics, fash­ion, and sports accessories.

What’s spe­cial: This store intro­duces Porsche Design’s new retail concept for the first time, pla­cing the brand’s unmis­tak­able design lan­guage at the fore­front. The core val­ues of func­tion­al­ity, pre­ci­sion, innov­a­tion, and time­less design that define Porsche Design are brought to life here. The concept extends the Porsche life­style far bey­ond the icon­ic vehicles, integ­rat­ing the motor­s­port DNA into vari­ous areas of every­day life.

The newly reopened store was cel­eb­rated with an exclus­ive open­ing party. Around 150 invited guests – includ­ing prom­in­ent influ­en­cers and well-known fig­ures in the scene – had the oppor­tun­ity to exper­i­ence the Porsche Design world up close. The even­ing kicked off with a rib­bon-cut­ting cere­mony, led by Porsche Life­style Group CEO Stefan Bues­cher. Guests were then treated to culin­ary high­lights pre­pared by Mich­elin-star chef Stef­fen Henssler, while a lively DJ set provided the per­fect soundtrack for the night.

The new store’s retail concept is about more than just shop­ping – it’s an exper­i­ence. Based on Porsche Design’s core prin­ciples of Ten­sion, Focus, and Pur­pose, it embod­ies the Porsche DNA in a remark­able way. The lay­out includes ded­ic­ated areas, offer­ing a 360° exper­i­ence that brings the unique mix of tra­di­tion and innov­a­tion to life.

The new flag­ship store aims to be more than just a place to shop. It is a hub of the Porsche life­style – a meet­ing point for enthu­si­asts and lov­ers of Porsche Design. A styl­ish hos­pit­al­ity area with a café bar invites cus­tom­ers to relax and immerse them­selves in the world of Porsche Design. One of the store’s standout fea­tures is the Timepieces sec­tion, where the crafts­man­ship and dis­tinct­ive design of Porsche watches are cel­eb­rated. Here, cus­tom­ers can receive per­son­al­ized advice, emphas­iz­ing the brand’s expert­ise and high standards.

There is so much to dis­cov­er at the newly reopened Porsche Design Store at Kö-Bogen – the brand’s world comes to life in an impress­ive way. The com­bin­a­tion of func­tion­al­ity, time­less design, and innov­at­ive con­cepts high­lights how Porsche Design con­tin­ues to trans­fer its val­ues into the mod­ern world.

From mod­ern design ele­ments to per­son­al­ized ser­vice, the store offers a truly immers­ive exper­i­ence that makes the Porsche life­style tan­gible and strengthens the bond between the brand and its cus­tom­ers. We look for­ward to wel­com­ing you at Kö-Bogen!

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Cred­it: Sven Kubeile und Porsche Design/Roserbrothers

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Bre­uninger Sea­son Open­ing 2024

Fash­ion Hot­spot Kö-Bogen: Bre­uninger kicks off the fall/winter sea­son in a new set­ting under the plane trees

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 10. Septem­ber 2024.

With the con­struc­tion site cleared, the north side of Kö-Bogen becomes the focal point of Düsseldorf’s fash­ion scene. The renowned fash­ion and life­style com­pany Bre­uninger hos­ted an impress­ive sea­son open­ing, attract­ing both fash­ion enthu­si­asts and trend­set­ters to the flag­ship store at Kö-Bogen.

With eight excit­ing fash­ion shows, numer­ous mod­els, and 600 exclus­ive front-row seats, the event was a true high­light and provided the per­fect stage for present­ing Breuninger’s new fall/winter col­lec­tion. The 195-meter-long open-air cat­walk, set against the back­drop of Daniel Libeskind’s mod­ern archi­tec­tur­al ensemble, cre­ated an ideal set­ting to show­case the latest trend looks from the premi­um and lux­ury seg­ments, adding a unique flair to the event.

Live music from the band everso and DJ beats cre­ated a vibrant atmo­sphere out­doors. The charm­ing mod­er­a­tion by Jana Azizi ensured the smooth flow of the pro­gram, while styl­ist Grazi­ano Di Cin­tio skill­fully cur­ated the shows.

An array of activ­it­ies inside the ven­ue offered guests refresh­ing treats at the cham­pagne and matcha bar, along with pam­per­ing exper­i­ences in the barber­shop and beauty lounge on the ground floor. Exten­ded hours until 10 PM allowed vis­it­ors to enjoy late-night shopping.

With this event, Bre­uninger once again demon­strated that it is not just a place for exclus­ive fash­ion but also a cen­ter for innov­at­ive exper­i­ences and styl­ish high­lights. We look for­ward to more excit­ing events at Kö-Bogen!

Archi­tec­ture in Full Glory

Finally No More Construction

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 05. Septem­ber 2024

Good­bye! Tschö! Adi­os! The long-stand­ing con­struc­tion site around the Kö-Bogen has finally become a thing of the past, and the rear part of the area is already emer­ging as a new favor­ite for many. Keyword: Düsseldorf’s new shop­ping cen­ter. Fol­low­ing the motto “Back is the new front,” numer­ous vis­it­ors are gath­er­ing at Haus Hofgarten to enjoy the last sum­mer days of the year on the steps by the water.

The build­ing ensemble, designed by inter­na­tion­ally renowned star archi­tect Daniel Libeskind—who also cre­ated the fam­ous Jew­ish Museum in Berlin—shines in full splendor. Libeskind’s green spaces along the out­er walls of the build­ing blend seam­lessly into the city­scape, com­plet­ing the icon­ic glit­ter­ing façade, which is loc­ated near the Hofgarten. This newly cre­ated oas­is of tran­quil­ity provides a wel­come retreat from the hustle and bustle along Königsallee.

The fash­ion world has also dis­covered the area: Bre­uninger is util­iz­ing the impress­ive back­drop behind the Kö-Bogen to show­case this year’s Fall/Winter col­lec­tion. After the extra­vag­ant fash­ion shows by the water in recent years, this is a refresh­ing change for vis­it­ors. Thou­sands of spec­tat­ors are enjoy­ing the open-air show right next to the flag­ship store. With live music and late-night shop­ping, the life­style com­pany is bring­ing fash­ion into an urb­an context.

With the long-awaited com­ple­tion, the back­drop now har­mo­ni­ously integ­rates into the sur­round­ing Schad­owstraße and Joachim-Erwin-Platz. These spaces not only attract fash­ion enthu­si­asts and vis­it­ors to our beau­ti­ful city on the Rhine, but also give the area a fresh, mod­ern char­ac­ter. The loc­al gast­ro­nomy has also benefited from the neighborhood’s new splendor: Pop­u­lar res­taur­ants and bars, such as Eduard’s by Bre­uninger, invite guests to unwind and enjoy relaxed even­ings with a drink in hand..

Cred­it: Sven Kubeile

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Sun, sum­mer hol­i­days, and every­one away?

There’s some­thing hap­pen­ing at Kö-Bogen in every season

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 05. August 2024

At Kö-Bogen, vaca­tions don’t mat­ter because there’s always some­thing hap­pen­ing here, no mat­ter the sea­son. It’s the all-weath­er hub of urb­an hot­spots, so to speak. Why is that? It’s not just the weath­er – it’s more about a dif­fer­ent kind of meas­ure that can­’t be quan­ti­fied but can be felt: passion!

We’ve seen a tango group dan­cing in nasty, dreary rain – incred­ible, those images. Dur­ing intense heat, there have been fash­ion shows with large audi­ences; they might have pre­ferred the pool, but Düs­sel­dor­fi­ans don’t miss fash­ion shows at the Kö-Bogen because they are pas­sion­ately well done. The events are usu­ally a beau­ti­fully wrapped love let­ter to Ins­tagram, because in front of the glit­ter­ing facade by star archi­tect Daniel Libe­s­kind, even a potato sack looks fantastic.

That’s why, in the sum­mer, vin­tage cars roll in – vehicles that have aged beau­ti­fully and take their anti-aging tour to the Kö-Bogen. It’s still young, just 11 years old. Pub­lic events are very pop­u­lar, like Sun­set & Net­work­ing by Kö-Bogen (among oth­ers, on the occa­sion of DFD), archi­tec­ture tours, salsa nights, clas­sic car exhib­i­tions, large fash­ion events by Bre­uninger, cook­ing classes by the Miele Exper­i­ence Cen­ter, and much more. The hunt­ing sea­son will soon be open again when Bre­uninger shows its next new col­lec­tion, when all the win­dows are filled with new trends, and the place becomes a source of inspir­a­tion. It takes me about 10 minutes to circle the Kö-Bogen, make a round and see what’s hap­pen­ing. It usu­ally takes longer, and I quickly grab a gelato or some­thing else. The pas­sion with which people fill the Kö-Bogen with life always has dif­fer­ent col­ors, dif­fer­ent facets, new inspir­a­tion. And in the end, it’s just like the first big break: every­one meets up – and every­one knows each oth­er. Wheth­er it’s sum­mer or winter.

Fotos: Andreas Endermann 

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Sum­mer at Kö-Bogen

A Look Back and a Glimpse Ahead at the 2024 Event Highlights

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 17. Juni 2024.

Sum­mer at Kö-Bogen in Düs­sel­dorf is in full swing and has already delighted numer­ous vis­it­ors. The event series, tak­ing place from April to Septem­ber 2024, offers a diverse pro­gram of cul­ture, dance, music, and enjoy­ment. Here is a look back at the high­lights so far and a glimpse ahead at the upcom­ing events.

The kick­off for the open-air sea­son came in April with “Hanami at Kö-Bogen by Little Tokyo.” In col­lab­or­a­tion with Japan­ese food spe­cial­ists Tak­umi, vis­it­ors exper­i­enced a culin­ary high­light with tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese food and drinks. The ensemble WAGAKU MIY­ABI provided authen­t­ic east­ern sounds with Koto and Shinobue. A spe­cial high­light was the pho­to­graphy work­shop with pro­fes­sion­al pho­to­graph­er Andreas Ender­mann, who shared valu­able tips on per­spect­ives and techniques.

In May, the pop­u­lar open-air dance events “Salsa at Kö-Bogen” and “Tango at Kö-Bogen” began. Dance enthu­si­asts could, weath­er per­mit­ting, first attend free intro­duct­ory courses and then enjoy the dance nights with all the exper­i­enced dance enthu­si­asts. The open-air dance events con­tin­ue: In August and Septem­ber, vis­it­ors can once again dance to Salsa and Tango rhythms.

Anoth­er high­light in May was the launch of the new event format “Sun­set & Net­work­ing by Kö-Bogen.” In this format, Kö-Bogen trans­forms into an after-work lounge with deck chairs, stalls, drinks, and chil­lout sounds from pop­u­lar DJs. A photo booth allows vis­it­ors to cap­ture spe­cial moments. The next dates are August 15 and Septem­ber 19.

An addi­tion­al “Sun­set & Net­work­ing by Kö-Bogen” event will take place as part of the Fash­ion Days on July 27, start­ing at 12:00 PM.

June brought the “Love­bird Fest­iv­al,” where vari­ous music genres were presen­ted on an open-air stage. The fest­iv­al was organ­ized by Petra Schli­eter-Gropp and Nils Gropp, sup­por­ted by the Sparda-Bank West Found­a­tion for Art, Cul­ture, and Social Affairs, and offered a won­der­ful music­al high­light. On June 13, “Kö-Bogen – Live on Stage” cel­eb­rated its premiere, with loc­al musi­cians and bands per­form­ing at the “Ueck­er Nagel” artwork.

Sum­mer at Kö-Bogen is far from over! With a diverse pro­gram of dance, archi­tec­tur­al tours, enjoy­ment, and cul­ture, Kö-Bogen will con­tin­ue to offer numer­ous high­lights in the com­ing months. Mark the dates in your cal­en­dar and be there when Kö-Bogen becomes the stage for unfor­get­table moments.

Fol­low us on Instagram:

(https://www.instagram.com/koebogen_duesseldorf/).

Calv­in Klein Opens at Kö-Bogen

Influ­en­cer and Fash­ion Enthu­si­asts at the Grand Open­ing of the Styl­ish New Store

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 27. Mai 2024

Last Thursday, Calv­in Klein cel­eb­rated the offi­cial open­ing of its new Calv­in Klein store in Kö-Bogen. Along with around 200 invited guests, the fash­ion com­pany also wel­comed sev­er­al renowned influ­en­cers, includ­ing Aleandra Frerk, Anthony Felice, Tobi­as Reu­ter, Fil­iz, Jonas Kauten­bur­ger, Den­nis Boeer, Emil Larsen, and oth­er prom­in­ent fig­ures from the social media scene.

The spa­cious, 474 square meter store, filled with nat­ur­al light, show­cases the latest women’s and men’s col­lec­tions, accessor­ies, and under­wear in a styl­ish and mod­ern set­ting. With the Chalk design concept, Calv­in Klein focuses on mod­ern, min­im­al­ist archi­tec­ture, high­lighted by con­tem­por­ary sur­faces and mono­chrome tones. The fit­ting rooms, accen­ted with Douglas fir wood and soft light­ing, cre­ate a relaxed and styl­ish shop­ping atmosphere.

Fotos: Annika Yanura

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Hanami at Kö-Bogen

Exper­i­en­cing the Beauty of Cherry Blos­soms in Düsseldorf

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 25. April 2024

Spring is the per­fect time to cel­eb­rate the tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese fest­iv­al of Hanami and admire the splendor of bloom­ing cherry blos­soms. You can also wit­ness this breath­tak­ing spec­tacle at Kö-Bogen in Düs­sel­dorf. The glass facades of the build­ing and the green sur­round­ings provide the per­fect back­drop for a Hanami picnic.

Des­pite the unpre­dict­able weath­er and the early bloom of the trees, we kicked off the open-air sea­son with a new format called “Hanami at Kö-Bogen by Little Tokyo,” in col­lab­or­a­tion with the pop­u­lar Japan-Food spe­cial­ist Tak­umi. They spe­cially cre­ated tra­di­tion­al dishes such as Dan­gos, Bento­boxes, and vari­ous Ramen for this event at Kö-Bogen.

The ensemble WAGAKU MIY­ABI, with their tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese instru­ments, provided the per­fect music­al accom­pani­ment, while DJ Fuse played relax­ing tunes. To enhance the Hanami exper­i­ence, we also organ­ized a Japan­ese “Cherry Blos­som” pro­mo­tion cam­paign, where sus­tain­ably pro­duced place mats in the Japan­ese style (hand­made in Ger­many) were giv­en away to the visitors.

Andreas Stolz in the Busi­ness Pod­cast Unplugged

From Real Estate to Brand: Sus­tain­able Urb­an Devel­op­ment at Kö-Bogen

POS­TED BY ALEX IWAN, 17. April 2024

Kö-Bogen: More Than Just a Build­ing – the Dynam­ic Heart of Düsseldorf

The real estate land­scape is marked by a mul­ti­tude of remark­able pro­jects, yet few have man­aged to become the icon of a city. The Kö-Bogen in Düs­sel­dorf is one of these phe­nom­ena – a prop­erty that has grown bey­ond its phys­ic­al bound­ar­ies to become a brand and a vibrant focal point in urb­an devel­op­ment. In the epis­ode “Busi­ness Düs­sel­dorf Unplugged,” hos­ted by Andrea Gre­u­ner and presen­ted in col­lab­or­a­tion with the Rotonda Busi­ness Club, the IHK, and the Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Düs­sel­dorf, Andreas Stolz, Head of Asset Man­age­ment NRW at Art-Invest Real Estate, provides deep insights into the pro­ject that has pro­foundly changed the Düs­sel­dorf city­scape. With over 30 years of exper­i­ence in the real estate mar­ket, Andreas Stolz embod­ies solid­ity, foresight, and fairness.

The Kö-Bogen shines like a pre­cious jew­el in the European port­fo­lio of Art-Invest Real Estate. How­ever, its sig­ni­fic­ance goes far bey­ond the role of a mere asset. Rather, it is a driver of urb­an devel­op­ment in Düsseldorf.

With a clear vis­ion for the future and a strategy focused on sus­tain­ab­il­ity and cit­izen par­ti­cip­a­tion, this pro­ject has evolved into a vibrant mar­ket­place that serves as a meet­ing point and exper­i­en­tial space. Diverse events and ini­ti­at­ives, such as the involve­ment of the loc­al Asi­an com­munity or part­ner­ships with the Tan­zhaus NRW, give the Kö-Bogen a spe­cial char­ac­ter and under­score its com­mit­ment to being an access­ible and appeal­ing place for all.

The Kö-Bogen rep­res­ents a suc­cess­ful syn­thes­is of mod­ern archi­tec­ture and vibrant use that appeals to and integ­rates all cit­izens and vis­it­ors alike. It is thus much more than an address – it is a suc­cess story that pro­foundly shapes the face of Düs­sel­dorf and reflects the spir­it of the city.

For more, tune in to the pod­cast:  #176 über Immob­i­li­en im Allge­mein­en und den Kö Bogen, als eines der Wahrzeichen von Düs­sel­dorf, im Beson­der­en: mit Andreas Stolz (Head of Asset Man­age­ment der Art-Invest Real Estate) von Wirtschaft Düs­sel­dorf unplugged (spotify.com)

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