KONE installs the world's first arched escalators in Germany

KONE Corporation, trade press release, December 19, 2016

KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has installed the world's first arched escalators at the new Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany. Opened at the beginning of November, the city's newest landmark features two arched escalators which are the longest in Europe. The innovations used in the escalators open up new possibilities for vertical travel.

"The construction principles developed for the arch form allow KONE to create escalators of a completely new design. This has opened up entirely new paths for us," says Senior Vice President Reino Hyvärinen, KONE's Escalator Business, whose team developed the escalators at KONE's sites in Hattingen, Germany. "We are now able to use the arch form, which has been patented, and we can now create escalators and moving walkways in a wave form. We can also build escalators which reach an extreme height, using several small drive units instead of large central drives. "

Allowing for 'endless' escalator rides, the escalators are more than 80m in length and climb to a height of 21.43m. They were developed especially for the new state-of-the-art music venue, enabling visitors to dive into a fascinating world of light and color on their way to the plaza which is 37m high. Because of the shape of the escalators, visitors cannot see from one end to the other during the two-and-a-half-minute ride, at speeds of half a meter a second. "This creates a perfect symbiosis of technology and architecture," says Hyvärinen.

The escalators take visitors to the public viewing platform "Plaza" of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall which offers a wide panoramic view over the harbor and city and is also the main entrance to the concert hall, the hotel and the apartments. On the weekend after the opening, around 13,000 people used the new KONE escalators each day.

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More information about the building at https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/elbphilharmonie
Other recent innovation news from KONE are available at www.kone.com/press including:

October 13, 2016: The first KONE UltraRope® in China to be installed in Beijing's tallest building, China Zun
September 2, 2016: KONE listed as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies by Forbes for the sixth year running
May 12, 2016: KONE to equip Middle East's biggest health campus in Adana, Turkey
December 2, 2015: KONE strengthens its high-rise innovation capabilities by opening one of the world's tallest elevator test towers in China

For further information, please contact:
Liisa Kivelä, Director, Communications, KONE Corporation, tel. +358 204 75 4330. media@kone.com

About KONE
At KONE, our mission is to improve the flow of urban life. As a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, KONE provides elevators, escalators and automatic building doors, as well as solutions for maintenance and modernization to add value to buildings throughout their life cycle. Through more effective People Flow®, we make people's journeys safe, convenient and reliable, in taller, smarter buildings. In 2015, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 8.6 billion, and at the end of the year close to 50,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. in Finland.
www.kone.com