Efficient, Neutral, Hyperbolic: Building the European Central Bank

Abstract

The building of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main is the result of a complex process that intersects and amplifies a set of issues concerning the relation between architecture and power at the turn of the millennium. From the initial competition, launched in 2002, to the inauguration of the tower designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au, this case highlights the reluctance, on the part of the institution, to use architecture to project power and showcase its mission. This hesitancy relates to the ECB's particular status as a supranational institution, operating between multiple national identities. While assuming an increasingly political role, the bank tried to present itself as a neutral, technical body, responding to a model of depoliticized governance. All that matters is what the institution does, not what it is. On a parallel level, this functionalist outlook aligned with a contemporaneous shift in architectural practice and thought. The traditional concern with representation was challenged by an evolving notion of materialism, which set aside questions of meaning in favor of questions of performance. All that matters is what buildings do. From this perspective, the performance of the technical infrastructure is believed to be the primary source of meaning, for both the institution and the architecture that housed it. The unfolding of the ECB project, however, revealed the limitations of such approaches. Given the importance of the bank within the governance of the European Union during a time of economic crisis, the building site became the stage for multiple symbolic rituals and forced a difficult reflection on the image of the European community. Despite the efforts to blend in and neutralize architecture, as in the case of the euro banknotes, the building process pushed the ECB to start addressing its unique political dimension, beyond reductive notions of technical efficiency.