BANKS AND AUTHORITY BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

bank buildings winning architectural awards is currently not exactly the order of the day. The situation was quite different for Bremer Landesbank (picture above and see AIT 12/16) this year: in May, the architects Caruso St John were awarded a special mention within the scope of the German Architecture Award and in October they won the “Fritz Höger Award” for brick architecture (p.14). Slowly – since the banking crisis in 2008 – the need for external representation seems to have returned to a normal level, as the sector had been noticeably reluctant to invest in prestigious buildings in recent years. And because this is the case, we have in addition to town halls, courtrooms and ministries also found numerous bank designs in Germany and abroad for our current issue on the subject of “Banks and Authorities”. Without any chrome-glass-and-granite aesthetics, these examples show how addressing customers can work today: sympathetic, uncomplicated, transparent, and honest. Of course, security still plays a major role in this, but nowadays it is hidden in the background – without an interior design characterised by bulletproof glass and steel doors. Much more offensive is the dealing with security issues in prisons – here, however, aesthetics plays a minor role. In our article “Behind Bars” (p.118), architect and criminologist Dr. Andrea Seelich reports on the challenges of prison design. Surprising time and again, but Christmas is almost certainly just around the corner! With our selection of gifts (p.153) for and from interior designers and architects, we want to reduce your pre-Christmas “gift stress”. And as in previous years, we would also like to give a present to you: take part in our “Christmas with AIT” raffle (p.74) and win one of 85 attractive prizes – just send an e-mail stating your postal address to weihnachten@ait-online.de! In this way, we would like to thank you for your loyalty as a reader and wish you a wonderful pre-Christmas season, a merry Christmas and a brilliant start to a particularly good and successful year 2018!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect