CertusBank Branch Prototype

robert benson's experience as design principal at 4240 Architecture

AIA DESIGN AWARD | CITATION OF MERIT | DENVER 2013

IIDA RED AWARD RETAIL | PREMIER | 2014

5,000sf | 2013 | GREENVILLE SC

Certus Bank looked to establish a new brand in the industry and hired the design team to synthesize an architecture from their ideas about banking. This prototype design blended solidity of stone (architectural precast) with the transparency of glass to express their company values.

Understanding that a brand is more than a color or graphic, the design team uses the concept of “bridge” to create a unique banking experience. A massive concrete frame spans the site and encloses a series of spatial experiences. The concrete itself is a metaphor for “certainty and strength”, the new bank’s tagline, and offers a palpable sense of permanence. Beneath the concrete the user enters through a porch, blending landscape and architecture, that bridges between a common southern archetype and the modern sensibility of the new bank. Above the porch is a custom EFTE skylight that paints the bank’s branded pattern in light. The bank itself is clad in low-iron glazing offering dramatic transparency and the smallest color shift possible. This visual “truth” is consistent with the bank’s straightforward customer service strategy. Finally, furniture was designed to bridge the digital world and physical world. The “C-bar” is a smooth, luminous bar offering the customer large touch screens on which to conduct banking business, or learn about digital banking. The result is a sophisticated architectural experience and immediately recognizable upgrade to the branch bank typology.

architect of record | 4240 Architecture