The redesigned corporate headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt am Main are now housing a brand and conference area. Parts of this section are public and can be accessed directly from the spacious atrium via a staircase. Deutsche Bank commissioned us to develop an installation that references the well-known company logo, originally designed by Anton Stankowski, for the vestibule of this area. The brief was to provide an atmospheric element that would be visible to customers, visitors and employees standing at reception, as well as on the bridge connecting the building’s 2 towers.

The vestibule is a narrow room of 25sqm strongly limiting the possible size of the installation. Therefore, we decided to utilise light for a radiant impact, and to expand the process of reception by making use of the visitors’ movement while approaching the area via a short staircase. Going upstairs becomes part of the experience as visitors gain increasing insights to the entry with the installation. Its concept is based on the principle of anamorphosis: what you see alters as you change your position in space. The image only fully resolves itself when seen from a particular ‘sweet spot’.

Since the opening on April 6 more than 20,000 visitors came to see the public part of the brand area. Board members use the overall facilities to hold receptions, functions such as HR are using it for employee activities, bank managers invite partners and clients, the press department welcomes journalists. With unobtrusive means, the dynamic and yet poetic installation ‘Anamorphic Mirror’ creates an atmospheric element with space-encompassing impact, and attunes visitors to the brand from the very beginning.

‘Anamorphic Mirror’ consists of a faceted mirror and blue light projected onto the opposite wall. When viewed from the ‘sweet spot’ the mirror reflects the Bank's logo.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs, visitors see seemingly random blue reflections on the mirror’s facets. As they get closer, the blue reflections begin to take shape, until they resolve into the bank’s logo upon the visitors’ reaching the stairs' top. In this manner, an animation is created from a static surface. While getting even closer to entering the conference area, visitors are themselves reflected in the mirror and thus take centre stage.