The Stuttgart TV Tower celebrates its 70th birthday this year – a city landmark and milestone of engineering art. At 216.6 meters tall, it embodies the vision of our founder Fritz Leonhardt: a slender reinforced concrete cantilever that combines sustainability and functionality.

Structural Principle and Load-Bearing Structure

The structure follows a clear static system:

• Monolithic reinforced concrete shaft with variable outer diameter

• Circular ring-shaped foundation slab to accommodate high bending moments from wind loading

• Cantilevered tower basket as a prestressed or heavily reinforced concrete structure

The 216.6 m tall tower acts statically primarily as a fixed cantilever. The dominant loading results from wind forces, which generate significant bending moments and horizontal forces at the base. The shaft's cross-section taper follows not only architectural considerations but the moment curve: Large diameters in the lower section ensure the required bending stiffness, while the cross-section reduces upward with decreasing moment – an early example of material-efficient form-finding. Its slender silhouette follows no decorative intent, but structural logic!

Foundation and Subsoil

On a circular ring-shaped reinforced concrete foundation slab, vertical loads, wind forces, and overturning moments are safely dissipated. Even in the design phase, minimizing settlements and rotations was a focus to ensure the long-term functionality of the transmission systems.

Tower Basket and Innovative Integration

The tower basket represents the most structurally demanding zone: Here, normal forces, bending moments, and local stresses overlap. Ring-shaped floors act as disks to transfer loads into the shaft, while the observation platform and gastronomy level are integrally incorporated – a novel approach that merges usage and load-bearing structure.

Construction Execution and Material Choice

The shaft was built section by section using the slipform or climbing formwork method, with precise concrete mixes and surveying for perfect verticality. Reinforced concrete offered higher stiffness, better damping, and lower maintenance than steel – advantages proven after 70 years.

Maintenance Measures and Future

We have accompanied and supported the structure from an engineering perspective from its construction to today. We were and are involved in many maintenance measures, from crack injection and external refurbishment to fire protection upgrades, up to the current concrete rehabilitation of the shaft.

Despite digital displacement, the tower remains economically viable as a landmark – resource-saving and viable across generations.

Fritz Leonhardt prophesied in 1996: "With good care, this thing will last 200 years." We are convinced: The masterpiece delivers what it promises! 

Visit the tower and experience engineering art live.

 

Photo: Bastian Kratzke, LAP