Großmarkthalle Frankfurt am Main, 2015

filmic documentation of a public building

This 7:32 minute movie presents the Großmarkthalle Frankfurt by German architect Martin Elsaesser. Until 2004, the Großmarkthalle was Frankfurt’s main wholesale market and one of the showcase projects of the New Frankfurt public housing program. With its simple brickwork and exceptional length of 220 meters, the hall creates a monumental, sacred temple of trade. This apotheosis of capital culminates with the recent accommodation of the European Central Bank in its premises.

By the means of a virtual fly-through, the film not only takes the viewer through the physical design of the building, but also allows him to travel back in time. The camera moves first through the original interior of the building and then exits the structure to show the impressive volume of the contemporary space.

Black-and-white photographs were split into fore- and background layers and re-assembled in a modeling software to re-create the experience of three-dimensional space. It is the slight movement of the camera and the conscious use of light that bring the massive architecture ultimately to life and materialize the spatial and atmospheric qualities of Martin Elsaesser’s extraordinary legacy.

The movie was shown during the exhibition Die Großmarkthalle von Martin Elsaesser at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

video editing: Edgar Savisaar