The Reserve Bank of India, various cities in India
Client: Reserve Bank of India
Status: Shortlisted competition entry |
The Reserve Bank of India (India's equivalent to the United States Federal Reserve) has literally hundreds of office buildings and branches throughout India and invited a number of practices to put forward proposals to bring the bank's image into the 21st Century both internally and externally.
We were concerned with the perceived separation between the bank and its customers and the general public and therefore proposed a fretwork screen to sit in front of the building and define an intermediate space between the two. This screen begins as a solid screen, reminiscent of heavy coins and evolves into a very lightweight one with refers to the almost virtual nature of contemporary banking and finance. The principle motif internally is a series of "zero" shapes in the ceiling in the colours of the Indian flag. The "zero" shapes are relevant as it was an Indian philosopher who invented the concept of "zero", without which we could not distinguish between 1, 10, 100, 1000 and so on.
key points
- external screen would be site specific but could include information displays, seating, bus stops and the like
- the in-between courtyard would be a retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the street
- glass boxes would protrude through existing openings to further blur the boundary between the bank and the public
- competition submitted in collaboration with Atelier, Bangalore and The Holman Group, Birmingham
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