Outline Concept
“Public buildings are conveyors of meaning and this one in particular will symbolize the European Union and its currency, the Euro.

The European Central Bank is a bank without tradition, presiding over a currency with no history. The Euro is the only money not backed by a state. Like Europe itself, the ECB is modern by default, simply because it is unprecedented in its effort.

Conceiving a building for the European Central Bank is like flying blind: venturing into a ”doesn't" with no clear references. So far the question of a European style or iconography to accommodate Europe's increasing integration has the usual habitat or business: a high rise tower clad in beige marble with brown mirror glass window. Besides the building's name ''Eurotower'', no effort has been made to present the bank as one of the symbols of a unified Europe.

Eurotower nearly blends in with the 17 other high-rises that have crossed the 100-meter-barrier to form the skyline of ''the city'' of Frankfurt. In height, it is casually surpassed by the German Commerzbank. So far the identity as the ECB has successfully been submerged into the overall ambition of Frankfurt to be a financial center.

The move to the site of the Grossmarkthalle located in Frankfurt's Ostend marks a significant shift: a new purpose built accommodation, set apart from the skyline of Frankfurt's financial district, is an endorsement of the ECB’s importance and marks an important step in its emancipation as a European institution.

From quietly performing its tasks for years, the ECB will suddenly find itself in full limelight. The new ECB building will be a monument, if only because of the expectations it invokes.“