Cologne walking tours NRW, German building guides, Germany city architectural walks, North Rhine-Westphalia architects visits

Cologne Architecture Tours

German Architecture Guides – Exclusive North Rhine-Westphalia City Walks tailor made for groups visiting Köln.

post updated 31 July 2024

Book your city guide on isabelle(at)e-architect.com

Köln Architecture Tour: Exclusive Guided Walks

e-architect have architectural tour guides in most of the key cities across Europe.

Cologne Walking Tours

Our Cologne guided tours are all tailored to suit each booking we do not allow for bookings to be joined. Our guided tours in Cologne are all exclusive to each client.

Cologne Architecture Introduction

Cologne (Köln in German) may be best known for its annual International art fair, but since the 1950ies architects have been busy reconstructing and creating a modern city according to Rudolf Schwartz’s post war urban plan.

Cologne has a wide range of contemporary architecture ranging from the Ludwig Museum by Busmann & Haberer and the Kolumba art museum by Peter Zumthor, to the Weltstadthaus by Renzo Piano for the Peek & Cloppenburg (photo below, it is actually a clothes shop), and more recently the Central Mosque by Paul Böhm.

Cologne University of Music and Dance Campus Building design by HPP Architects:

architecture image Courtesy architecture office

Also the recent urban developments include the Rheinauhafen area displaying a well-balanced contrast between public places and individual new buildings. The three Kranhäuser (Teharani) have become a landmark on the Rhine-harbour front with some very fine examples of office buildings and domestic architecture surrounding it.

Apart from the famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), the city has a impressive series of Romanesque churches, which are well worth visiting.

This is the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Kolumba Diocesan Museum building:

architecture photo © Breun

Cologne Architecture Walking Tours

Cologne Architectural Tours can focus on traditional buildings, contemporary German buildings or both. The Cologne Architecture Tour can be an introduction to the city’s main buildings or can be more specific to certain building types or geographical locations.

We are usually able to satisfy your architectural interests on our Cologne Architecture Tours – please specify what kind of buildings you wish to see on your visit.

Cologne Walking Tours

Contact our travel office to arrange your Cologne architectural tour: call us on mobile or email us at isabelle(at)e-architect.com

architecture photo © webbaviation

Architecture Tours

e-architect also organise German architecture walking tours in the capital city Berlin, and Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich. We also offer city walks in other Northern European cities such as Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Architecture Walking Tours

General view of this NRW city:

architectural photo © webbaviation

Cologne Architecture

Cologne Buildings

Cologne Architecture Designs – chronological list

European Building Tours

More architectural city walks in Europe by e-architect:

Berlin Architectural Walking Tours

Copenhagen Walking Tours

Stockholm Architecture Walking Tours

London Architecture Tours

Edinburgh Walking Tours

Cologne Buildings

Selection of the best architecture in this German city:

Kolumba Diocesan Museum
Peter Zumthor building design

Kranhaus buildings
Architect: BTR (Bothe, Richter, Teherani, Hamburg)

Kranhaus buildings picture © Breun
Kranhaus
The Kranhaus Center occupies the third and fourth floors of one of three iconic 21st century waterfront buildings designed to be reminiscent of harbor cranes that could once be found along the River Rhine. Kranhaus1, named like this because it’s the first building, like its two neighbouring 17-floor tower buildings, is shaped like an inverted letter ‘L’.

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
Architects: Atelier Brückner
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
In the foyer, the visitor is welcomed by the museum‛s emblem, a rice barn from Indonesia, which is accompanied by information modules where a preview of the entire route through the exhibition can be obtained. A prologue and an epilogue frame the pathway through the museum in the form of multi-media spatial installations that are designed in the same way.

State Archive Building
Stadt Archiv
This six-story archive building collapsed in 2009, along with two neighboring apartment buildings. Two residents in neighboring buildings were sadly found to have died.