Inside Lufthansa's Frankfurt Headquarters

Where: Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany

June 16, 2010 at 9:35 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

Would you believe that Lufthansa, Germany's flag-bearing airline with the professional image, has a full sand volleyball court inside of their Frankfurt Headquarters? Well, they do. Too bad it's classified as "art" and not allowed to be used for actual lunchtime volleyball games.

This is just one of the many surprises we stumbled upon recently when Lufthansa graciously took us on a tour of their state-of-the-art Aviation Center, a new building alongside Frankfurt International Airport, with a birds-eye view of all the tarmac action, but with a focus on the interior as well.

The Aviation Center was completed in 2005, and yet it's still only half-done. Lufthansa wants to double its size and extend the wing-like structure, but for now this will do. It consists of glass-enclosed office blocks separated yet joined by nine interior gardens, each with original art and its own biosphere-like environment, from a Japanese zen garden to Australian outback. The glass-latticed roof allows the building to breathe while being protected from the elements, and keeps the structure extremely energy-efficient. Actually, the whole place is very eco-conscious, with sustainable materials used in the building and recycling and conservation stressed everywhere.

Like Google's much-hyped California HQ with its communal creativity areas, Lufthansa's HQ includes open areas away from desks, where colleagues from many departments can mingle, have a free cappuccino, chat, and perhaps develop new work relationships and ideas. It's an extremely health place, both socially and environmentally, and despite the fact that the place was full of workers while we were there, it seemed almost empty and pleasantly calm.

Although public visitors are not allowed, you can marvel at the gorgeous building in a couple ways. It's visible in the distance while you're on your plane at FRA, you can drive by on one of the country's busiest autobahns, the A3, which runs right alongside the structure (see how closely here), or you can whoosh past it on an ICE train headed north from Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof, since the tracks run parallel to the A3. Keep a look out for it on your next trip to Germany, and be sure to blow a kiss over to Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber for us, hm?

Disclosure: We were guests of Lufthansa while in Germany and that's how we got in here. However, all views expressed here are completely our own.

[All photos: Jaunted]

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