The New Headquarters - Volksbank AG

LITERATURE IN THE UNDERGROUND GARAGE
The Special Library
An employee portrait with a difference by Liquid Frontiers *
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Employees bring in their books –
a social sculpture is taking shape.
[6] Signs pointing to the
Special Library
[1]
*) Graphic design of the project:
vandayse
[6]
[2] [3] [4] [5]
Intellectual capital as a sound basis
The artistic design concept for “The Special Library”
was customised for the area of the underground
garage of the new headquarters. It thrives
on the participation of employees. Based on the diverse
interests and skills of the employees, the
project attempts to paint a portrait of the company
by setting up a library whose unique composition
reflects what the individual VBAG employees personally
deem to be important. In a sense, this also
represents the intellectual capital that is available
and constantly exchanged within the company. In
this respect, all employees of the VBAG Group
were asked to provide three books that they felt
should be part of the VBAG library. The spines of
the books were scanned in, put together in a library
arranged according to the names of the employees
and visually played back into the spatial basis
of the building in the form of large-format displays.
The selective but effective conversion of the
normally highly mundane underground ambience
into a library of various shelves of books not only
ensures additional orientation in the underground
floors, but is also intended as an ironic reference to
this location, where the vault was often situated in
days gone by. The concept relates to the traditional
notion of a bank, which for many years was characterised
by the myth of cash and gold that was believed
to be well-secured in the vault of a bank.
However, since this romantic notion was supplanted
by the digital reality of the financial services
sector and the politically correct representation of
capital has been eroded in many respects as a result
of current developments, it seems appropriate
to regard the primary basis of a bank as being
rooted in the intellectual capital of its employees.
The library as a portrait
Every library is unique. Hardly any two libraries
have exactly the same collection of books. Every library
forms its own universe that not only consists
of its books, but is also formed by the links between
the books. In this respect, whatever their
layout, libraries are always also labyrinths where
you can find things you were not even looking for.
Libraries can be seen as a portrait of those who put
them together. They create a kind of “silhouette”
of the intellectual contours and life situations of
their respective owners, which is why libraries are
often of particular interest to artists, writers, scientists
and politicians. For instance, Umberto Eco’s li-
34 THE NEW HEADQUARTERS