Bank in Essen

The theme of the design was the reconciliation of the existing skin of the building with its new contents. The two street faces with the corner dome – built around 1900 – are protected by conservation order. At the same time, four new storeys had to be accommodated behind the old two-storey street front. The two staircases at the edge of the main banking hall consist of flights of bent sheet steel. Like the landings, the treads and risers are finished with solid maple planks. The staircase elements are supported by tubular steel beams anchored to reinforced concrete columns at the sides. The all-glass balustrades are fixed between the double-flat construction of the strings. The steel elements were painted with micaceous iron oxide.