Stained-glass windows in the branch office of the State Central Bank of the Commonwealths of Saxony and Thuringia in Meiningen

According to plans by the architects Kollhoff and Timmermann, with Nicolas Perren, Berlin, a branch office of the State Central Bank of the Commonwealths of Saxony and Thuringia was built.

In the south window, with a total size of approx. 6.56 x 8.35 m, an artistic glazing in Fusing glass technique (smelted-glass technique) was installed. The window ist divided into 16 individual fields of equal size (approx. 1.55 x 2.02 cm).

The artist:

The artistic glazing was designed by Prof. Helmut Federle.

Dr. Gert Reisig, PR division head at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, writes in an essay about Prof. Helmut Federle: ""The artist Helmut Federle, born 1944 in Soluthurn and currently residing in Vienna, is considered one of the most important representative of a contemporary geometric abstraction ... This is an art form which combines the tradition of abbreviated signals ... with the innovations of the colour field, and rhythmises large-scale colour surfaces so as to make the image structure (formerly classic composition) itself a symbolic shape...""

The technique and its development:

The insulated-glass panes into each of which three Fusing glass panes are incorporated, consist of an 8-mm toughened safety glass pane, along with a laminated safety glass pane made of 2 x 6 mm toughened safety glass or 1 x 8 mm toughened safety glass.

This is, as far as we know, the first time that a glazing of this type, technique and size is applied to architecture.

The application and the development of this glazing was, following an intensive planning and consulting phase, only possible by way of particularly close co-operation between the glass-consulting company, expert assessors, the insulated-glass manufacturer, the architect, the artists and us uns.

Another particularly of this situation was that our Fusing kiln (with its 2100 x 3500 mm – according to the manufacturer's statement, one of the largest, apparently even the largest in Germany); it enables the user to manufacture two panes simultaneously – which cuts reduction time in half.

Here, you will find the Websites of the State Central Bank of the Commonwealths of Saxony and Thuringia"