“Frankfurt – City of WOW”: An Immersive City History Experience

(eap) As part of its designation as “World Design Capital 2026”, awarded this year by the World Design Organization for a sustainable design-led urban policy, the German city of Frankfurt am Main is currently developing a new experience entitled “Frankfurt: City of WOW!”. The attraction will explore 800 years of the city’s history, combining learning and entertainment. The new edutainment offering is scheduled to open from March this year in a former document archive of Dresdner Bank on Gutleutstraße.

Courtesy of Nordisk Büro Visitors can look forward to a journey through time staged with modern media technology, beginning in the early Middle Ages and recounting Frankfurt’s role as a trading and business centre with early trade fair site privileges. Numerous interactive and exploratory elements are designed to invite guests to engage playfully with the city’s development into today’s global hub for finance, logistics and innovation. Economic contexts are intended to be linked with urban life in the city – ranging from everyday life of residents and issues of migration to cultural movements in literature, music and the creative scene. Among other features, an approximately ten-metre-high 270-degree projection with an area of more than 1,200 square metres and a light output of around 160,000 ANSI lumens is intended to enable impressive visual storytelling.

“Frankfurt: City of WOW!” is being developed through an international collaboration between the Nordisk creative agency and the full-service provider satis&fy, specialized in live communication, and is planned to be operated on a permanent basis beyond the 2026 design year. The project is supported by the Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH and the City of Frankfurt am Main. ■