The building is located at the bottom of José Malhoa Avenue, in an area which it indicated, would become Lisbon’s financial district.
This place is part of a mixed and little cohesive area of housing blocks, offices and hotels.
The new headquarters project has developed from this urban context and the concern to meet the client’s objectives at the same time. Thus, the building would have to constitute an architectural reference point and project the bank to the central plan of the financial markets in Portugal.
The final project resulted in a building consisting of two deliberately contrasting parts.
A lower five-storey, granite-lined block was arranged orthogonally with an eleven-storey transparent glass tower. The façade has two skins separated by an air box that functions as a huge chimney, aspirating the air through the base and expelling it by the top, at the roof level, contributing to the reduced use of mechanical ventilation systems.
The two parts of the building are protected from the surrounding area by walls lined with aluminium panels that function as bulkheads. The configuration of the building in “L” creates a natural entrance patio, slightly elevated in relation to the public road and valued with a lake and a fountain.
The lower block building’s landscaped terrace is protected from the sun by means of a visor with an oval shape cut into the centre. The glass tower is topped by a second wing-shaped visor also coated with aluminium. The building has six underground floors for car parking, strongrooms, Control Centre, storage and other technical facilities.
