Mies placed trees in an asymmetrical pattern of recesses in the paving and integrated grass lawns into the stone plinth. As a result the urban block provides not only a public plaza but also an abstract natural landscape. The design of the outdoor areas is a fundamental part of the architecture, knitting together the plinth and the pavilion that sits on it. The result is a balanced contrast between the sculptural mass and weight of the podium and the slender lightweight impression of the wide-span steel structural frameworks that extend high up into the sky.
As in Berlin, the two monumental service ducts in the square hall are clad with Greek Tinos marble, and visitors familiar with the Neue Nationalgalerie will have a déjà-vu experience on en- tering the bank. A further similarity between the buildings is the large column-free universal space covered by a grid of steel roof trusses. The advantage of this method, which required the utmost precision, is the low self-weight and construction depth of the roof structure; its disadvantage the high assembly costs, which Mies was nevertheless willing to accept in order to achieve the desired impression of lightness. He declared, “we have steel. I think that this is a fine material. By fine, I mean it is very strong. It is very ele- gant. You can do a lot with it. The whole character of the building is very light. That is why I like it when I have to build a building in a steel construction. What I like best is when I can use stone on the ground.