- LOCATION -Trincomalee, East Coast,Sri Lanka
- EXTENT OF LAND – 2530 sq.m
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Commercial bank is bay far one of the best banks in Sri Lanka as well as in the South-East Asian region. When the director board requested us to design their green building and the regional branch in Trincomalee we wanted to do a design that is a complete turnaround in this type of building
For the first time we realized that large numbers of people of Trincomalee are queuing outside the existing bank in order to do their daily business. The second thing we trealized was the extreme heat and dry climate of the area.
We decided to create a ‘Garden Environment’ throughout the whole bank whereby it will be serendipity to discover such a garden after entering a lightweight aluminium box.
CONCEPT
“Banking within a garden environment “
As the building plot is located in the very urban part of the town Trincomallee. We opted to design a very modern and futuristic facade without stepping into iconoclastic sentiments. The whole facade is an aluminium screen which helps to create a soft light conductive to the office and the bank environment.
The surprise of interior is that once the customer walks in from the main lobby the experience is of trees and vertically stacked live garden. Customer waiting area is flanked by reflective, flowing water pools which are always provided with recycled water. Internal offices and their respective departments are stacked into their respective floors and each floor overlooks the five storey atrium which draws in light from the sky above.
There is always greenery and fresh oxygen in the environment. This was very important for us as the climate in this region is hot and humid due to proximity of Indian ocean few hundred meters away. The building was also raised above the flood level and special precautions were taken to prevent the in-flow of water in case of a natural disaster.
The immediate coolness of the environment set against a polished black granite floor would reflect the quadruple height atrium. The stone seating was also set around tress and water ponds and bring about a sense of relaxation to the busy and stressed out customers.
