On 16 and 17 September Messer, the largest privately managed industrial gas specialist, will officially open its new company headquarters in Bad Soden. Messer has invested around 20 million euros in the construction of the building complex in the heart of the town in the Taunus. It comprises a five-storey office building, an event centre – the Adolf-Messer-Forum – with a permanent exhibition on the subject of the production and use of gases and the applications offered by the various companies in the Messer World.Bad Soden’s historic station building is also part of the new Messer headquarters, it is planned to convert it for catering and event purposes. The three buildings surround the newly created “Messer-Platz”, whose central attraction is a group of stainless steel sculptures created by the German-Dutch artist Ewerdt Hilgemann. The move to the new company headquarters means that the owner, Stefan Messer, has, for the first time, united all the companies of the Messer Group under a single roof.

The heart of the headquarters: the exhibition
In the unique permanent exhibition customers and visitors can learn about the range of activities of the Messer World. This exhibition is designed to present people, brands, products and history, and to breathe life into the experience.

In the lobby of the 4,000 square metre main building, a ceiling-high wall of water provides a reference to the spa town of Bad Soden, with its numerous mineral springs. Another eye-catcher is the Messer Globe. This is derived from the company logo and, with its dynamism, symbolises the international growth of the Messer World. The adjacent foyer is dominated by an impressive tree-like structure covered in small, white leaves. Closer examination reveals that the leaves are little triangles. Each of these triangles bears the name of one of the more than 7,500 employees worldwide. A new leaf is added for each new member of staff. The sculpture symbolically connects the employees, and at the same time illustrates the contribution each of them makes to the company’s success.

The Group’s extensive product portfolio is represented by a shelf of display cases. 113 very different products – from the Aida cruise ship to the ice-cream wafer to the cylinder head – document the variety of application areas of the industrial gases and production methods of the Messer Group. The number of exhibits stands for the company’s 113-year history. As visitors move into the Adolf-Messer-Forum they are shown the history of the company and of the owner’s family. A collage of words, pictures and sounds reflects its eventful history. At the centre stand the company founder Adolf Messer, his son Hans, and his grandson Stefan Messer, the current owner.

The Adolf-Messer-Forum itself offers a plenty of space for visitors to make their own discoveries, to be gripped by fascination and to engage in discussions. Here, the visitor can find out all about the company’s brand, people, products and history. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a historic air-separation plant, which explains the principles of air separation vividly using a 3D cut-away model.

The Frankfurt agency for spatial communication - Atelier Markgraph – designed the presentation of the various brands, the wide range of products, the different application areas, and the company’s history for the exhibition. Creative director Stefan Weil emphasised that: “For us it is always fascinating to transfer the magic of engineering power into the world of communication and brand environments, and thus convert complex topics into content which is understandable for the visitor”.