Mario Bellini was born in 1935 and graduated in 1959 at the Politecnico di Milano. He lives and works in Milan. His activities range from architecture and urban design to furniture and industrial design. His fame as a designer dates from 1963.
He is internationally renowned as an architect and designer, and is winner among others of 8 Compasso d’Oro and prestigious architecture awards including the Medaglia d’Oro conferred on him by the President of the Italian Republic. He has given talks in the greatest centres of culture in the world and was editor of Domus. His work can be found in the Collections of major Art Museums. MoMA in New York, which dedicated a personal exhibition to him, has 25 works of his in its Permanent Design Collection. He has had countless exhibitions in his name in Italy and abroad.
Deutsche Bank has now a new headquarter in its historic location in Frankfurt. To sign it is the Milanese architect Mario Bellini, who has radically refurbished and renewed the two towers after winning, in December 2006, an international competition by invitation. The two towers, already a landmark of Frankfurt and of the world finance, have now become a new icon of contemporary architecture. A sort of small town to access through a huge portal which reminds of the historic city gates. Once inside you are immediately in a large hall, which reminds of a “piazza”, becoming the key location of the entire complex. Huge and bright, 22 meters high, penetrated by the towers which can be seen down side up through a ransparent roof (18 meters wide). Moreover the towers are connected thanks to a magic sphere of a 16 meters diameter – overlooking the square – that you can walk through along two bridges. An art and engineering challenge that will become the new dynamic symbol of Deutsche Bank. A bank which has obtained the most significant certifications regarding energy saving and respect for the environment: the Platinum LEED certification and the German certifaction for sustainable building (DGNB Gold). This is a success that transforms the headquarter of Deutsche Bank in an outstanding architecture.
