The atrium is the core of the new headquarters - rising to 22 metres, it is a highly distinctive architectural feature. An artwork of a type previously unknown in the Austrian banking world has been created here on an area of some 4,000 m². The wall painting by the artist Otto Zitko, who was born in Linz, forms an extraordinary symbiosis with the specific architecture.

“eins durch unendlich - unendlich durch eins” (one through infinity - infinity through one) is the name of the light installation created by Brigitte Kowanz, which is the first thing people see on entering the headquarters. With dimensions of 630 x 800 x 40 centimetres, the artwork forms the ceiling of the foyer and is an integral component of the new architecture.

Eva Schlegel’s intervention in the new headquarters uses texts from Franzobel’s play “Die Pappenheimer oder das O der Anna O.”, which was specially written for the bank. The design envisages the piece being permanently visible in all rooms, and the text installations were implemented on the glass surfaces of the doors on the floors in the old building.

The art collections were also combined as a result of the consolidation of the two banks. On the basis of a positioning design - developed together with Kunstkontakt, Vienna - the new headquarters and the surrounding office buildings were decorated with artworks from the Volksbank AG - Investkredit collection, in particular. Art encourages creative working and helps people to find unconventional solutions for complex issues.

To present the new headquarters and the history of the site in literary terms, the Atrium was designed in such a way that it can function as a stage. Franzobel, one of the most important, contemporary Austrian dramatists was invited to review the history of the new headquarters. Franzobel took up the biography of Anna O. (Berta Pappenheim) for this purpose and gave an account of her life on stage in 2010. After three performances in the new headquarters, the Schauspielhaus has now taken on the play as coproduction partner.

Liquid Frontiers designed another kind of employee portrait. The employees of the VBAG Group were asked to nominate three books that, in their subjective opinion, should not be missing from the Group’s library. These books were scanned and tailored as an artistic design for the underground garage. VBAG’s employee library represents the intellectual capital available within the company.