Sparkasse Hagen office tower, International Style skyscraper in Hagen, Germany
The Sparkasse Hagen office tower, known locally as Langer Oskar, was a 98-meter-tall skyscraper with 22 storeys, two of them below ground. Its facade was a pre-hung aluminium construction covering about 10,300 square metres, and a continuous reinforced concrete slab up to 1.82 metres thick braced the lift shafts. The architect was Karl-Heinz Zernikow of Hagen.
The tower rose between 1972 and 1975 and became the main headquarters for Sparkasse Hagen bank. It stood until March 2004, when it was demolished to clear space for new developments in the city center.
The nickname "Langer Oskar" likely echoed the "Langer Eugen" in Bonn and referred to Oskar Specht, the Sparkasse director at the time. The foyer hosted art and craft exhibitions in the tradition of the Hagener Impuls, and children's theatre performances (Reibekuchentheater) were held there on World Savings Day.
The tower stood in the city center and was easy to locate, but entry was limited to bank employees and business visitors. Today you can find information about it through historical photos and documents rather than visiting the actual site.
The building was designed in the International Style, an architectural approach that emphasized function and clean lines without ornament. When it came down in 2004, the controlled demolition required 1,450 explosive charges, making it one of Europe's largest building implosions.
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