Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner creates a glimmering, dynamic, and energy-efficient landscape glass and steel at NORDDEUTSCHE LANDESBANK

摘要

Without the glazing, which takes on the blue cast of the sky, it would be tempting to view the Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hannover, Germany, as a modern-day Emerald City. This new bank complex by Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner is a self-contained mini-metropolis, rising like a sculpture of glass-and-steel boxes, piled with nonchalant elegance one atop the other, some cantilevered daringly, and all culminating in a tower. Hannover is not a city with a well-established tradition of risk-taking architecture. Close to the old East German border, it lagged behind the rest of West Germany in both economics and post-World War II reconstruction. The locals have grown fond of the remaining old buildings, and years of restrictive zoning resulted in a rather low and uniform cityscape. Even the impact of cutting-edge architecture in the pavilions of Hannover's Expo 2000 [RECORD, July 2000, page 30] is not obvious.