| Sir Norman Foster is not famous for understated buildings: he's responsible for the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, the huge radio aerial outside Barcelona, and the redevelopment of the Reichstag in Berlin. Commerzbank's new building in Frankfurt will be Europe's tallest. But its architects, Sir Norman Foster & Partners, insist that winning a height competition isn't the point. Banks are no longer seeking to outreach each other in opulence. They're looking for an efficient use of space. Barclays' new headquarters, in the City of London's Lombard Street, follows this principle. It says nothing specific about Barclays it could as easily house any other bank or a blue-chip company for that matter. Today, grand design has been replaced by functional business support. The trend is for architects of banks in Europe and the US to give as much consideration to the needs of the profit-makers inside as to bending the necks of customers and passers-by outside. The landmark design in this trend, years ahead of its time when it was finished in the 1980s, was ING Bank's quirky headquarters in Amsterdam, extraordinary to behold, but kind to its inhabitants. |