Ottoplatz
The station square in front of Köln Messe/Deutz, home to the Otto-Langen memorial and an award-winning landscape redesign.
The Ottoplatz lies in Cologne's Deutz district at Opladener Straße, corner of Auenweg, and forms the station square in front of Köln Messe/Deutz (address Ottoplatz 7). Between 2012 and 2014 the square was redesigned for 1.9 million euros and honoured with the German Landscape Architecture Prize in 2017.
At a Glance
- District
- Deutz
- Location
- Opladener Straße / corner of Auenweg
- Function
- station square for Köln Messe/Deutz (Ottoplatz 7)
- Redesign
- 2012 to 2014, 1.9 million euros
- Award
- German Landscape Architecture Prize 2017 (category "Landscape Architecture in Detail")
- Memorial
- in honour of Nikolaus Otto and Eugen Langen
- Funding
- Regionale 2010 programme
Redesign and Design
The square was included as a project under the Regionale 2010 funding programme and comprehensively reshaped between 2012 and 2014. Natural stones in varying colours mediate between the original fabric from 1913 and the new paving. Bands of slabs set into the ground along the length of the square give it a clear direction, reinforced by tree plantings and two long benches made of high-quality precast concrete. These benches also complete the missing spatial edges and bridge the differing building heights. The redesign significantly enlarged the usable area for large events. In 2017 the project received the German Landscape Architecture Prize in the category "Landscape Architecture in Detail".
Location and Surroundings
The area of the Ottoplatz is cut through by four streets. Alongside the main area in front of the station, the western part stretches before the KölnTriangle (Ottoplatz 1), while the southern part lies in front of the LVR building (Ottoplatz 2, built 1966, currently being dismantled). The planned new LVR building by the Landschaftsverband Rheinland is intended to re-emphasise the character of the square; from an adjacent plane tree, Cologne Cathedral can be seen. Behind the historic hotel-restaurant building Heidelberger Fass, with its distinctive corner entrance, the square continues with outdoor dining. To the south-east it is framed by the Constantin Höfe (Ottoplatz 6, built 2006, JSWD Architekten), while an open area to the east serves as a car park and opens up views towards the nearby Stadthaus and the Lanxess Arena.
Good to Know
On the Ottoplatz, a memorial commemorates Nikolaus Otto and Eugen Langen. The square's name and its memorial thus recall the engine pioneers whose names remain closely tied to Deutz.
Gallery
Map
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Address
Ottoplatz
50679 Köln
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Sources & links
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-07-24
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