OCBC Premier bank

Premier Retail Bank

OCBC Bank wanted to create a total new banking experience for their premier-level customers. Located along Singapore’s busiest lifestyle and shopping district, this flagship premier bank has to relate contextually to it’s customers and environment. OCBC Bank wanted the spatial quality to be of a gallery, where customers can retreat within the privacy of the premier banking space, away from the bustling streets.

While OCBC wants this “gallery” to have an open concept and for their visitors to be able to see this new experience before they step in, they also recognise that the nature of banking transactions for their privileged customers require a level of privacy and exclusivity. The challenge was to achieve privacy, and at the same time allow the space to be ‘permeable’ from the outside. We began to interpret this interesting spatial narrative.

We created a concept of a singular element which represents privacy. Designed to be sculptural in presence, tall granite walls were composed before large framed windows, creating a space to invite people to look through. Customised privacy sofas were placed before these tall granite walls, using the walls as buffers between the inside and out. This solution allows the space to be open, at the same time maintains an appropriate level of privacy.The granite walls continued to extend itself into the more private teller rooms and lift lobby that transits onto the basement level, leading into a corridor of many meeting rooms. Hence, the use of materials and colors created a language for the space and a strategy for navigation.

Photos REBECCA TOH