Description: Norman Foster, one of the most consistent advocates of architecture based on modern technology, achieved a world-wide reputation with the headquarters for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong, Stansted Airport in London, Century Tower in Tokyo and his telecommunications tower in Barcelona. His most important projects in Germany are the conversion of the Reichstag building in Berlin and the new Commerzbank headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.

The Commerzbank building, situated in the middle of the city centre, promises to be an exceptional complex not only architecturally, but also in terms of energy consumption. The plan of the building, which, including the aerial, is almost 300 m high, is triangular in form with slightly concave sides. Within the transparent tower gardens totalling 3300 sqm are set aside in a spiral configuration, stepping up throughout the building as 14 m high climate buffers. The office floors are combined to create so-called villages; in conjunction with the gardens a central atrium, which is ca. 160 m high, brings daylight even to the offices in the centre. The balance of energy use achieved through most advanced operating systems will be much more environment-friendly than in other high-rise buildings. It can already be stated today that a landmark of contemporary architecture is in the making here, comparable in its historical significance only with the works of a Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

The internationally known architecture and design historian Volker Fischer was Second Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt for over 10 years. For some time now he has been building up a new design department in the Frankfurt Museum for Kunsthandwerk. In addition to his museum work he teaches history of architecture and design at the Fachhochschule in Offenbach. After studying at the Fachhochschule in Dortmund, Ralph Richter rapidly made a name for himself as an architectural photographer. He has photographed buildings by Santiago Calatrava, Goop Himmelblau, Norman Foster, Volker Gienke, Uwe Kiessler and Alessandro Mendini.

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