European Central Bank (ECB)

Frankfurt, Germany

 

competition finalist

 

This 120,000 square meter competition site along Frankfurt's Main River will house the European Central Bank headquarters, incorporating the adjacent historic Großmarkthalle for the bank's public functions. ECB's headquarters–symbolically similar to our own Federal Reserve–requires a gravity of treatment equal to its importance, as well as stringent protective measures. The plaza design provides a bold, simple, public foreground to the headquarter's two towers, while addressing the bank's rigorous security requirements through the use of reflecting pools, low hedges, and a canopy of shade trees along the Sonnemannestrasse. The proposed monumental plaza is comprised of large grass panels and groves of shade trees positioned within a continuous paved plane.