The evolved architecture and design of high-street finance you can bank on

Popping down to a high-street bank branch to pay in a cheque, get out some cash or even open an account are to-do list tasks of the past. With almost all financial services now available online and digital transactions taking more of the market share (up from 28% to 41% from 2019 to 2022), more and more retail branches are shutting up shop.

The complicated worlds of both technology and finance, however, continue to fill many customers with confusion and dread, so perhaps the friendly face of a physical bank storefront with actual humans still has a place. These evolved retail banking interiors hark back to a longed-for time when we knew our local bank manager’s name, but work in conjunction with technology to offer hybrid financial services alongside more personal advice, in comfortable and comforting surroundings.

As a regional banking brand, for example, The People’s Bank of the South, in Jacksboro, Texas, US, didn’t have the weight or investment power of its international or even national competitors to quickly set up competitive online services. So the local brand decided instead, to do what local brands do best and focus on the customer. The branch uses deep, soft leather armchairs alongside warm brick and rich walnut surfaces to ‘focus on customer experience, and the interpersonal relationships formed between the bank and its community,’ explain architects Sanders Pace Architecture. The branch’s street presence was also improved with a border of translucent glass panels and uplighting, attracting new local customers as well as old.

After moving the bank closer to the corner to create a more approachable presence on the street, Renasant Bank in Memphis Tennessee, US, split its interior into three distinct zones, each specialising in different types of financial service. The restructure developed stronger banker/client relationships as ‘Universal Banker’ staff were able to lead customers through each step in turn.

DSK Bank, meanwhile, brings new meaning to retail banking by locating its Flagship Branch in a shopping mall in Sofia, Bulgaria, and designing the interior like a high-end retail space. A wide, calm central area provides plenty of space for customers to enter and feel at ease, before taking to informational devices in self-service areas, or waiting for an open consultants’ desk for human help and consultation.

Banks can be stressful places, where customers’ futures and livelihoods hang in the balance. Waiting areas and consultation rooms are awash with anxiety as hopeful or fearful occupants nervously learn their fate. Tasked with the redesign of four separate branches of Sugamo Shinkin Bank in Japan – Tokiwadai, Nakaaoki, Shimura and Ekoda – Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design developed an interior and exterior design concept based on nature, with expressive colours, greenery and access for natural light and air, thus responding to the bank’s brief to ‘provide first-rate hospitality to its customers in accordance with the motto: “we take pleasure in serving happy customers.”’

The assumed requirement that financial service interiors feature subdued and neutral palettes to present an air of seriousness and professionalism while responsible for their customers’ money clearly found harsh criticism from architects Massimo Mariani, who redesigned a retail bank interior for the Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Castaneto Carducci in Donoratico, Italy, into a more joyful, celebratory environment.

Wooden pillars and walls in strips of bold primary colours flank an elongated corridor, surrounding loan management and administrative offices, while storage cabinets on the other side of the branch feature tongue-in-cheek symbolism, with stylised four-point vault wheel spokes forming the handles. ‘In this way, areas that in banks have been traditionally staid and bleak,’ explain Massimo Mariani, ‘have been reinvented to give them an amusing and more optimistic look.’

With more of our money, and indeed entire currencies, solely existing in digital format, the need for banks to house large and imposingly high-security vaults is being reduced. But many bank customers still have other physical items that need protection. In steps the role of the safety-deposit box. While the Hadi Teherani-designed safety-deposit box provider Trisor uses an advanced digital security system to keep its customers’ valuables secure – instead of the traditional mechanical locking vault with oversized circular door, the space’s three vaults still feature highly evocative arched vault ‘doors’, presenting a trusted image that technology alone can not. The branch’s product and material palette of luxury furniture and lighting alongside gold-hued surfaces, meanwhile, give the secure space Federal Reserve vibes.

© Architonic

Head to the Architonic Magazine for more insights on the latest products, trends and practices in architecture and design, or find inspiration in a whole world of projects from around the globe through ArchDaily’s architecture catalogue.