The world's most spectacular bank buildings
Occupying smart offices with sheer endless views over the skyline, banks do not just speculate high, but even work in palaces above the clouds.
Leading banks administer our money from impressive company headquarters that fulfil the latest standards in sustainability, design and functionality. The most imposing and innovative designs of notable bank buildings all over the world have now been compiled by Emporis, an international provider of building and construction projects data, based in Germany.
One of the most singular bank buildings is undoubtedly the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, the first building outside the United States to break the 1,000-foot (305-metre) mark and, even today, one of the world’s tallest corporate headquarters. Its sharp-edged appearance, the triangular elements of its form, the shiny reflective facade and the metal panels that are illuminated at night all serve to make the tower reminiscent of a gigantic crystal.
A further interesting example of imaginative design in bank buildings is the Macquarie Bank Centre in Sydney. The sophisticated interior design of the comparatively low building does entirely without load-bearing columns and provides light-flooded, colourful workspaces that jut out into the atrium at various levels and in various shapes. The building, constructed sustainably, is supported by a silver-grey network of steel beams laid out evenly around the blue glass of the facade.
That spectacular architecture has a price is proved by the Bank of America Tower in the New York borough of Manhattan, which cost US$1 billion (Bt31 billion). The tower, which serves the currently largest US bank as a prestigious administration building, is one of the most eye-catching in this city of skyscrapers. The mast atop the total 366-metre building is not an antenna that has been attached to the roof, but a permanent element towering up out of the glass-clad structure. In addition, the skyscraper has been commended for being particularly eco-friendly and energy-saving.
Surprisingly, the desire to build prestigious bank buildings is not even on the decrease in countries rocked by the global economic crisis, such as Cyprus or Spain. As recently as 2009, the Co-Op Bank in Cyprus moved into an exclusive new designer building. In Madrid, the BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank, is building a new company headquarters from an extravagant circular design by star architects Herzog & de Meuron.
