(continued)

Blendwork also created "The Color Fleece," a large painting in the building's lobby. At 2300 square feet (210 square meters), it is reputedly the largest painting in the world. What the viewer sees in the painting depends on the viewer's position and changes with the light throughout the day. In a monograph describing the process of creating this painting, Emde wrote about the building:

"Unlike the other towers [in Frankfurt], the building by Norman Foster executes a new double movement. On the one hand, the building reaches up apparently endlessly to the sky, seemingly lifting up from the ground and departing from it. At the same time, it lifts nine gardens up into the heights.

"In this way, the Commerzbank building modifies the simple law of roots in the soil. Nature is a simulated living space floating in the heights, reflecting the duality of the tower. The building replaces the necessity to root the trees in the earth, by taking them up and growing with them towards the light."

—from "The Colour Fleece by Thomas Emde in the Commerzbank Building"

Consulting engineers:
Ove Arup & Partners with Krebs & Kiefer
Roger Preston & Partners with Pettersen & Ahrends
Schad & Hölzel
Jappsen & Stangier
Davis Langdon & Everest
Quickborner Team

The light installation gives the impression of transparency to the building at night as well as during the day. Photo: Bianconero Every office worker has a green view. In this case, down across the atrium to one of the gardens. Photo: Rudi Meisel From the outside, Emde's new lighting installation gives the gardens a warm yellow glow. Photo: Bianconero A view to the top from inside the atrium. Photo: Bianconero The central atrium provides natural ventilation throughout this "ecological high-rise." Image: Foster and Partners The building's triangular plan encircles a central atrium that works as a "natural ventilation chimney." Image: Foster and Partners Thomas Emde's uplighting the facade emphasizes the verticality of Frankfurt's tallest building. Photo: Bianconero   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.